Jump City Sage
by Gavedin
Summary: Blasted to a new dimension Naruto finds himself being pulled into the superhero business for real. With an obsessive former sidekick, robotic man, sarcastic shapeshifter, emotionless hanyou, and an alien princess, what's a blonde leaf ninja to do?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nein! Ich keine eigenen Naruto oder Teen Titans! In other words, I don't own either of them. Got it memorized?

**Chapter 1:**

_**It hurt**_

The Akatsuki member known as Pein had arrived in Konohagakure, destroying the village in an attempt to draw out the Kyuubi jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed shinobi had actually been away at Mt. Myouboku, training alongside his toad summons in the art of senjutsu. He, along with the three bosses Gamabunta, Gamahiro, and Gamaken, Gamabunta's son Gamakichi, and the toad elder Fukusaku had returned to the smoking crater that was once Konoha in a massive pall of summoned smoke. Fukusaku's wife, Shima, had summoned the lot of them and boy were they surprised by what they came to witness.

They had thought Shima had messed up the summoning and brought them somewhere else as there was no way this could be the Village Hidden in the Leaves until she explained that this was, in fact, Konohagakure. An epic battle then ensued between a Naruto pumped full of nature chakra and the six separate bodies of Pein. As time wore on, five of the walking cadavers were destroyed, but not without any casualties on the Leaf side.

_**The pain**_

The three massive toads were heavily injured by the megalomaniac's Shinra Tensei technique. Pa was stabbed through the chest by a blackened blade, and Naruto was pinned to the ground with a sword shard through key points on his body to keep him captured. Hinata Hyuuga had jumped into the fray to try and protect the blonde she loved, but her attempt was in vain as she herself was stabbed through the neck as he was forced to watch.

And that was what set him off.

_**Why won't it stop?**_

The explosion of chakra went off like an atom bomb at ground zero as the jinchuriki went straight to a bloody, six-tailed chakra cloak with bone armor overlay. All reason was lost as pure primal instinct took over like a wave. And that instinct wanted one thing and one thing only: to fully and utterly destroy the man before him. The two continued their battle until Pein used Chibaku Tensei and trapped the maniacal fox avatar within a floating sphere of rock. The S-ranked ninja believed he had finally caught his prey until eight massive tails broke through the 'moon', followed by a skinless fox roaring to the heavens in anger. One more tail to materialize and the Kyuubi would finally be free.

Inside his mind, however, was a different story. He was well aware of his surroundings but then again, he wasn't. All he could feel was the agony radiating from his stomach, the black ink flowing from his seal like a raging waterfall. It crept down into the muck of his mindscape, tainting the stagnant water with the foul chakra and steadily spreading outward in a circular pool.

All the while a pair of glowing red eyes watched the scene from behind a gigantic cage, gleefully cackling to itself merrily. Soon it would be free of this pathetic mortal and all would fall before its power!

A gentle goading in Naruto's mind had him walk forward tenderly, feeling that should he remove the seal his pain and hate would finally come to an end. Every step seemed like an eternity, yet before he knew it his hand was against the paper seal. One tug and all would be done. His fingers tightened around the edge, gripping it tightly before willing his arm to move.

It was time….

But he was stopped. A hand grabbed his forearm tightly, causing the digits to release the parchment in surprise before he found himself tackled away from the seal. The fluttering of a jacket caught his attention, revealing to Naruto none other than a man who was long dead and the reason for his suffering. He couldn't help it. The blonde stuttered out a surprised whisper that still echoed around his cavernous mind.

"Y-Yondaime…"

"I programmed the seal so that if you ever manifested eight tails, I would appear. I really didn't want that to happen…I never wanted to see _you_ again, Kyuubi. Then again, I do get to see my son grown up because of this."

That right there blew the young ninja's mind.

The fox kept yelling in the background, annoying the 4th Hokage to no end and forcing him to teleport the two to a different area of his psyche. The two conversed a bit before Minato revealed the reason behind the Kyuubi attack: a man named Madara Uchiha. He had used his sharingan to control the powerful biju. While the Yondaime truly wished for his son to defeat the masked man and bring peace to the elemental nations, there was a problem…

Naruto was dying on a molecular level.

Eight tails of poisonous youki were now coursing freely through his chakra network, destroying the very bonds that kept him together. If something wasn't done soon then he was going to die, plain and simple. But! There wasn't only one fail-safe woven inside of his seal.

"I added a special version of my hiraishin marker into your containment seal, Naruto. If your body couldn't handle the strain of your biju, the formula would be able to send you somewhere else when activated. Instead of being drawn to my seal formula like when i would use my kunai, the formula will act as the starting point and simply push you away from the point of origin. The strain of transport, in theory, would drain the demonic chakra from your coils down to a safe level. The damage you underwent would heal overtime with an acceptable level of Kyuubi's chakra."

Naruto stayed silent, staring at his idol as he spoke. "You're speaking strangely…there's a 'but' isn't there?"

The man nodded slowly, a small yet sad smile adorning his face. "Good call. It would be a one way trip, seeing as my chakra is the catalyst to transport you. I can only do so much before my energy runs out and I disappear."

Minato watched as his son bowed his head, his eyes shadowed behind his hair. "But…but what about here? I'm needed _here_, in the Elemental Nations! I can't just leave!"

"It's leave or die, son. I know this is yet another terrible situation being thrust upon you, but it's my wish as your father to see that you live. Live a long life where you grow old and happy. Something I was unable to do…" Naruto's blue eyes finally became visible, but they were out of focus. They seemed to be trained on Minato's white jacket, unable to meet his own eyes.

"Yondaime…tell me. What am I supposed to do?"

"…you'll have to find the answer by yourself. It's your decision." That wasn't what he was waiting to hear. The younger shinobi began to yell, angry at his life and what he had suffered through only to now have to leave it all behind once he was finally starting to gain recognition for his deeds. He would have continued his tirade until he felt a hand grab his hair and ruffle it affectionately.

"It's your decision. I know it's tough, but I bet you can make it. I _know_ you can."

"R-really? You think so?"

The deceased Hokage smiled, ruffling his hair some more before keeping it there. "Of course! It's a parent's job to unconditionally believe in their kids!"

He grew silent, waiting for the boy to come to a final decision. Ten seconds passed before he finally found his voice and answered him. "Alright. I'll do it. I'd rather be somewhere else and alive than just drop dead without a fight. Either way the bastard fox will die when I do. Speaking of which, is there any way I can finish the fight I'm in now?"

Minato smiled widely, withdrawing his hand and placing it on the broken seal. With a twist of his hand, the ink withdrew into the mark like a sponge and returned to the way it once was. "There, I returned the seal to normal but this was the last time I can do that for you. Once I begin the transfer, you'll have about fifteen minutes to finish your business before my chakra finally dissipates and you teleport."

"Thanks…"

"You've grown strong! I'm very proud of you, son."

The spiky-haired teen rubbed at his eyes with his jacket sleeve, wiping away the salty tears that had accumulated in his tear ducts. With a bright smile that caused Minato to believe he was looking at a blonde Kushina, Naruto grinned brightly at gave his dad a thumbs up.

"Of course! I'm the son of the 4th Hokage so of course I'd be strong!" At that, the Yondaime reached into his jacket and withdrew a kunai with three bladed prongs and threw it at the ground. As soon as it hit, he clapped his hands together in the snake seal and focused his remaining chakra. Naruto immediately disappeared from his mindscape as Minato got to work.

"Good luck…son."

Back in the real world, the Kyuubi projection had grown docile before disappearing in a large pall of smoke. It finally faded away to reveal an un-Kyuubified Naruto standing against the floating rock, orange sage markings already in place around his eyes revealing he was once again one with nature and also in control of his emotions.

In other words, Pein was fucked.

It took five minutes to destroy the last body, with five more to find the man behind the attacks. His name was Nagato, former student of Jiraiya and one of the three original founders of Akatsuki. While Naruto wanted to do nothing more than rush forward and kill the paraplegic, he knew it was not the answer to the peace he was striving for. So instead he talked, swaying the red-haired man with his views and unending resolve after hearing the redhead's own sob story.

And it actually worked. Nagato believed in him and as a show of good faith, used the power of his rinnegan eyes to bring back to life all those who were killed in his attack. Though his partner Konan protested the action, he wanted to do it. Even though he was low on chakra and the act cost him the remaining life he still possessed.

With two minutes to go he tried to make it back to the village but his legs gave out from exhaustion. Yet before he hit the ground he was saved by a reanimated Kakashi, who pulled him onto his back before the two set of for the ruins of Konoha.

"Good job." Naruto grinned lazily, his arms dangling over his teacher's shoulders as they walked through the forest.

"Heh heh…thanks, Kakashi-sensei. Glad you're back too." He couldn't see it but he knew the man's lone visible eye had crinkled upwards into a smile, reflecting his mood on the matter. A sudden flare of pain racked his lungs, causing him to cough violently and hack out some blood onto the forest floor. "Ouch…"

"Are you alright?"

"No…I used to much of fuzzbutt's chakra, and my cells are falling apart. I met my dad-" he tapped his stomach, causing the jounin's eye to widen in amazement at the statement. "-and he told me the only way I could survive was if I transported somewhere else. I had fifteen minutes to defeat Pein before he used some special Hiraishin to move me, and I have about a minute left…this will probably be the last time we ever talk…"

"If that's true, then I just want you to know I'm quite proud of you Naruto. You've grown from a loudmouth, troublemaking dead last into a fine young man and shinobi, and it will be pretty boring around here without your antics."

"You're damn right! Plus, if I'm gone then Akatsuki can't get the Kyuubi! Dad told me a guy named Madara was the reason behind the fox's attack, so he'll probably be really pissed when the nine-tails drops off his radar. Something to look out for after I'm gone."

"Thanks for giving me a heads up." A strange pulse began to fill the air, causing Kakashi to set him down as they exited the treeline and came into view of the villagers. The blonde felt the pulses flow throughout his whole body as his remaining chakra spiked, causing him to cough again before giving a rueful smile.

"I guess this is it…say goodbye to everyone for me, will you?" He received a slow nod as lightning began to arc up and down his visage, slowly blinding the Cyclops before a loud crack echoed through the destroyed town. Those in the vicinity paid witness to a bright flash of yellow light that faded in an instant, only to see Kakashi standing next to a crater in the earth.

Naruto Uzumaki had vanished from sight reminiscent of the way their deceased leader the Yondaime was known to do. And that brought up more questions that the adults knew would give them headaches for days to come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everything was fuzzy and it felt like he had been pulled inside out, twisted around like a ragdoll, and then put back together without the instructions. It didn't help that someone jut sprayed him in the face with a blast of water, either.

"Success! Sleeping Beauty awakens! Hehe…heh heh heh HAAAAAHAHAHAHAhahahah!"

What the hell?

":Huh?:" Naruto opened his bleary eyes, blinking away the blurriness as the harsh light invaded his pupils and causing him to hiss in pain. As the blue orbs finally refocused, he noticed he was in a large building bathed in shadows and darkness except for the one bright lamp shining down on his body. He was propped up into a sitting position against a chair, bound to the smooth wood by a thick rope.

Also, whoever was speaking was doing so in some language he couldn't comprehend.

"Awww, look! He's blinkin' like a liddle baby!"

":Who's there? I don't understand you!:"

"What'd he say?"

The blonde noticed shapes moving around against the dark backdrop before a weight settled in his lap and bright blue eyes peered curiously into his own, invading his personal space from inches away. It didn't help that he couldn't shift around to find a more comfortable spot in the chair. Stupid restraints.

"Ya don't think his brains're all scrambled up, do ya?" He could now tell the speaker was feminine, especially when she pulled back from studying him to reveal her face. It was painted stark white with a small black mask surrounding her eyes, yet still exposing the azure orbs. Long blonde hair was pulled up into twin pigtails.

Her outfit was rather revealing, and now that he could get a good look at her it was starting to affect him a bit. It involved a short skirt, knee-high boots, long gloves, and a corset that revealed her cleavage and bra, all colored red and purple, with alternating diamonds along them. Even though it was embarrassing to have her sprawled all over him, especially since he could feel her against him quite easily, it wasn't nearly as bad as anything involving Anko.

She suddenly grinned wickedly, grabbing his cheek and pinching hard enough to elicit a yelp out of the captive. Apparently she could feel the effect she was having on him due to her cuddling and the fact Naruto really never had anyone get so close to him before, once again bar Anko whenever she would go on a 'fox hunt' as she called them. The teen really never knew if he should be enjoying the chase or scared for his life…so he normally did both.

"Oooooh! Someone's feelin' frisky! Bad boy!" She gave him another strong pinch while wagging a finger of her other hand in a scolding manner, causing him to release another small cry and glare heavily at her. All he could hear was gibberish when she spoke and his face was starting to hurt from her stupid pinching.

":What the hell are you doing? Quit it!:"

"Huh?"

"That's enough, Harley! Let me have a good look at our guest." This time it was a male voice that cut through the air, rumbling lowly and yet still sounding higher pitched. It chuckled quietly in the background, and Naruto realized the voice was the one who was laughing in the beginning. Harley pouted before rolling off the captive in a surprising display of flexibility before she grimaced and rubbed at her barely covered behind.

"Aw man! The water ya squirted at his face dripped onto his lap and I totally forgot and sat in it! Now mah clothes are damp!"

The hidden male released a sigh and small bark of laughter before he started to speak again. "Go and change into dryer clothes, my dear! I'd like some time alone with our welcomed guest…heh heh hehehehe…"

"Hmmmm, 'kay! Be back in a flash, Mistah Jay!" The ninja watched as she skipped off before his attention was brought to a new person who entered the light. If nothing else, Naruto would have classified the man as very sick from his appearance.

This 'Mistah Jay' was thin and lanky, decked out in a purple pinstripe suit and yellow vest, purple shoes, and white gloves over his hands. His face too was pure white, the many creases over the skin giving him a ghastly appearance. His hair was as green as seaweed and slicked back, though the occasional tuft would break free and stick up however it wanted. Red makeup was painted around his lips, giving him the look of a permanent smile. His eyes, though…they seemed almost hollow. Occasionally twitching from an unforeseen stimulus and just one of the many nervous ticks he could make out. It all pointed to one thing-

This person was obviously insane.

The strange clown man walked forward slowly, every step causing his grin to grow wider as the distance between them lessened. This continued until he was a nearly a foot away, staring unblinkingly at the yellow-topped boy. "So, you're a strange one aren't you? But that's what makes it exciting! If no one was strange the whole world would be boring, and _nothing_ would be funny! That would be hell on earth for me!"

He began to pace back and forth, ignoring the fact that Naruto still had no grasp of the English language. "Hmmmmmm but then again, you suddenly appeared in a flash of light. **In my warehouse, no less**. I made sure that you were comfortable-" he walked over and kicked the seat. "-and hydrated, yet you can't understand me because of the language barrier! You're as annoying as Batsy and I just met you! The irony is so bad it makes me want to laugh! In fact, I will!" The pale-skinned clown began to laugh boisterously with no sign of stopping, causing the shinobi to close his eyes and try to escape.

'_Fuck, I knew I should have paid more attention to Iruka-sensei on escaping ropes! This guy's fucking crazy! Thinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthi-THAT'S IT!_' He was immobile. The ropes made sure of that. And that was all he needed. Expanding his senses and doing his best to ignore the still echoing laughter, Naruto began to reach out and call upon the energy of the surrounding earth.

He could feel it hesitate at first, but then it rushed towards him like an attention starved puppy. The chakra flowed through his network just like the countless times before, melding together with his own natural life force to create the unique brand of chakra he had learned back in his own world. Orange pigmentation began to darken around his eyes as he activated sage mode, ready and eager to tear out of there and escape these freaks. Maybe even find someone who could speak Elemental.

But then he felt a fist connect with his jaw, snapping his head to the right and bringing him out of his meditative trance. For a thin guy he could sure hit hard, not that it actually hurt the toad sage. "Hey! At least pay attention when I'm complaining about you! Kids these days…" He shook out his hand, feeling some of the bones pop from the strike. "What are you made of? Your skin was like steel! Ooooh, what's this? Seems like we're not the only ones in town to put on a little make-up to brighten up our day! Heheh hehe heh hehehe!"

":Ha! Take that you asshole! Punch me again, I dare you!" Naruto was waiting for this clown guy to either lower his guard or look away, allowing him to now easily snap his bindings and escape. The Joker, however, kept his eyes trained on the blonde before suddenly snapping his fingers as his toothy grin sprung back to life.

"Don't yell at me in that tone of gibberish, young man! You need to learn some manners…I guess ol' Joker here will have to teach them to you!" He quickly reached into his jacket, retrieving a strange looking metal contraption Naruto had never seen before. Giggling manically to himself, the crown prince of crime pointed his magnum at Naruto's forehead and calmly pulled the trigger.

**BANG**

It sounded like an explosive tag went off next to his face, causing him to instinctively flinch even though his body was empowered by nature himself. The Joker let out a displeased scoff before giggling again as he looked at the smoking weapon in his hand. A flag had extended from the barrel, fluttering lightly from the force while displaying the word 'BANG' in comical letters. "Oh, drat! I always get my guns mixed up! I really need an organizational system, maybe some filing cabinets or little sticky notes. Oooh! Alphabetized by joke! Now that's a good idea!" As he once again reached into his jacket and pockets, he began pulling out all manner of strange items. From a rubber chicken to different styles of knives, it was almost like he had a set of storage seals in his clothes or something.

He let out an 'ah ha!' as he pulled out a gun identical to the one he held before, before placing it against Naruto's forehead and cocking the hammer back. "There now, this should do it. Punishment for the naughty trespasser!"

A whistling filled the air, a small shape slicing through the darkness and connecting with the psychopath's hand and forcing him to drop the weapon. It discharged as it clattered noisily to the ground, firing off into a stray corner and lighting it up for a second.

"Ow! That wasn't nice!"

"Things are never nice when you're involved, Joker."

A person dropped from the rafters, touching the ground as their cape billowed around them mysteriously. The criminal began to laugh again, rubbing his wrist as he walked around and stopped behind Naruto, causing the blonde to lean forward. The person stood up to reveal a man dressed like a bat, with armor and pointy ears and everything. Just another strange sight in this new world, he guessed.

"I was wondering when you would show up, Batman! You're just in time for the show! I caught this little trespasser and was about to show him how things are handled, and how I feel about uninvited guests." He leaned forward, grasping the blonde's shoulders painfully tight as his voice dropped a few octaves into a dangerous tone, his eyes glinting eerily in the building's lack of light. "But you would know all about that…wouldn't you, Bats?"

Batman's hooded cowl seemed to tighten as his eyes narrowed, glaring back with equal vigor at the insane man. "Let the boy go, Joker."

"Now why should I do that, hmmm? Even if I did, he speaks another language and wouldn't even know how to survive out on the hardened, unforgiving streets of Gotham City." This time he placed a gloved hand on his head and heartily ruffled his hair, causing Naruto to growl and try to shake him off.

Suddenly, he felt a new energy signature enter the room. It seemed like it was doing its best to hide its presence but then again they didn't know Naruto was currently a pinpoint sensor. The movement inched forward, moving behind the Batman and stealthily using the shadows to their advantage.

A small glint of light flashed behind him due to the bright lamps, revealing what appeared to be a large hammer being held aloft. Naruto's eyes widened in realization upon noticing what was about to happen and wasted no time in yelling out a warning, language barriers be damned.

:Roll left now!: The crime fighter hesitated for a split second before moving after hearing a muffled noise from behind him, the ground where he once stood now splintering under the force of the sledgehammer. The ninja immediately shot his head backwards into the Joker's torso and forcing him to stagger back a few feet from the blow. Rolling with the motion, he flipped over the chair while easily snapping his binds before lashing out with his foot and kicking the chair.

It shot forward past Batman and hit the assailant, causing her to squeak in pain and be knocked off into a bunch of crates. Not one to miss an opportunity, the man with the cowl leapt into action against the recovering jester. Naruto walked forwards towards the moaning Harley Quinn, quickly making a kage bunshin to act as bait and set off any possible traps there could be. It never hurt to be careful.

Good thing too, because Harley suddenly lashed out with her legs, sweeping out the clones feet out from under him and dropping it to the floor before hopping on the copy's chest. Rearing back, the woman managed five punches with a pair of brass knuckles before the sage chakra-filled clone finally burst. The blonde coughed as she was immediately immersed in smoke before suddenly finding herself flat on her stomach with her arms and legs bound tightly together with ninja wire.

"Hey! What the hell is this? Let me go! Puddin', help!"

The sound of laughter once again filled the air but it quickly dipped in volume until it was completely gone. The clownish woman cried out again, though this time it was followed by a choked sob. "No help for you, Harley. Joker bugged out as soon as he could." Batman walked into view, now sporting a small gash across the bat emblem emblazoned across his chest where Joker had pulled a hidden knife on him.

The clown had barely tried to fight back, even going as far as to tell Batman to take good care of his sidekick for him. The big prize may have escaped, but Arkham was still going to have one less empty room tonight.

With every step he took, the strange blonde that spoke Japanese took one step backwards. Before he could say anything to him, the teen turned tail and ran. Batman went to chase him but the near silent sobs of the criminal at his feet brought him back to the present. Scowling the whole while he picked the woman up and easily hefted her over his shoulder before pressing a button on his utility belt. The screech of tires filled the night air as the Batmobile rushed to its owner's position.

He would have to search for that blonde sometime later. He didn't seem like he was connected with Joker or Harley at all, but the insane clown was a master at planning and deception. It could all have been a ruse to make him think that the kid was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and get him to lower his guard. Nice try, but it's not going to work. Next time the two meet, he better hope he's walking the straight and narrow.

Back with Naruto, he didn't know whether the weird man in the animal costume was going to attack or not so he decided to take no chances and just book it. Having taken to the rooftops, he easily bound over the buildings without rest until coming to a stop near what seemed like the border of the city limits. '_This is a pretty big place…where's the wall to keep attackers out?_'

Sitting down, Naruto decided to take a small break before heading back out to explore. A sudden rustling in his jacket caused him to freak out before a small, slimy, and familiar form wiggled into the open air and released a small gasp.

:Katsuya!:

:A-ah, Naruto-san…I was worried about you…:

He gently grabbed the slug summon and set her on his shoulder, looking at the small being in unveiled wonder. :How are you here? How'd you survive the fox's chakra when I transformed? Didn't you poof back to your whole form after the battle, or whatever?:

:I am unsure as to how I am still with you, but I have decided to stay behind until my chakra disperses and I returned manually. It was in case you needed any extra healing after the fighting had finished.: The summon seemed to sigh again, before looking around at the pre-dawn skyline. :Where are we anyways? I have never seen such a city before.:

:Uhhhh…I don't really know. I used too much of the fox's chakra and it was killing me. I met the Yondaime in my seal and he fixed it for me, but…to live he used some kinda super hiraishin thingy on me to blow the poison out of my body so I could heal on my own and now…: He gestured back out to the city again before leaning back on his palms. :They speak some weird language here too taht isn't Elemental.:

:Yes, I heard. What are you planning to do now?:

:I don't know, really. Look around, see the sights…:

:Perhaps you should attempt at summoning the toads? If I made it here, perhaps they can as well.:

:…..GREAT IDEA!:

He quickly initiated the summoning sequence, channeling his still recovering chakra into his bloodied palm and slapped it upon the rooftop.

….

….

….nothing happened.

:Perhaps you should recover more before trying anything as straining as summoning.:

Naruto plopped back down onto his ass, running his non-dirty hand through his hair. :Yeah, maybe. So what now?:

:It would do you well to learn more about the people of this world.:

:Alright, but I'm not doing it here. This village is weirder than home.: The slug's features didn't change at all, but even he could tell she was looking at him with a WTF expression. Grumbling slightly, he turned to look upwards at the crescent moon hovering in the sky before answering. :You didn't see it because you were hidden, but I was just in the middle of a fight between two psycho clowns and a man dressed up like a bat.:

:…perhaps it would be prudent to search out another city for intelligence.: The blonde nodded before looking around and choosing a random direction to move in. Starting off with a shrug, he hoped that with enough traveling he would come across another settlement that hopefully had a hotel or something he could rest at along with a distinctive lack of jokers and flying rodents.

One could only hope.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

:WOW, WHAT IS IT WITH THIS PLACE? The villages here are way bigger than Konoha ever was!: The two had traveled for nearly a day straight on foot, occasionally taking the time to eat some rations or take a break to rest. The young sage even had to cut across a large body of water to make it within the new city's limits. And now here he was sweating in dirty, bloodied, and singed clothing and yelling at the top of his lungs in Japanese. Yet he obliviously ignored the many stares and whispers he was receiving.

:And what's up with all these weird metal boxes people keep getting inside? They're everywhere and moving by themselves!:

:Please calm yourself, Naruto-san. We are trying to stay incognito.:

:Incog-what now?:

The slug stayed silent within his collar where she had taken refuge, seeing the reason why Tsunade or Sakura occasionally punched him for being an idiot. She knew it really wasn't his fault; he had grown up that way. But still…

:We're trying to not draw attention to ourselves. From what we've seen so far, these people are all civilians and speak a language different from ours. It would be helpful that you stayed quiet and tried to blend in with the populace. Try to refrain from using any ninja techniques as that would possibly cause panic amongst the populace.:

:Ah, alright…say Katsuya? How much longer do you think you'll be here?:

:Another day at the most.:

Naruto walked over to a nearby bench and plopped down, stretching out his rather stiff feeling limbs. He didn't hurt anymore compared to when he first woke up, but now it felt like every one of his muscles had tightened up on him. Constricted muscles were the bane of constantly-on-the-move ninjas.

:When you head back could you let everyone know that I'm doing alright?:

:Of course.: He grinned lightly, resting a bit as he watched the people around him go along with their daily lives. It was much louder here than Konoha, and yet it still seemed more peaceful. His reverie was interrupted when the sounds of the city were suddenly overtaken by a metallic screeching that actually hurt his ears. The ground shook from an explosion one street over and the ninja wasted no time in racing to the scene and checking the damage.

No one appeared injured but strange green smoke was rising from a freshly made crater at ground zero. It dissipated to reveal a hunched figure glaring at the onlookers with glowing jade eyes and long red hair. It was an athletically curvy female dressed in light looking armor, with bluish-black boots and underclothing. Her arms were encased in some sort of heavy restraints which caused the hunch, and over her face was a facemask reminiscent of Yamato's.

"Sloth for'ni vorgnart! Sloth vorn! Ung gershet'h tora'l!" She slid down to ground level, stalking towards a nearby pedestrian and growling in anger. One brave (or most likely idiotic) pedestrian decided to use his camera to take a picture of the strange woman, blinding her and causing her to lash out in a rage. She began to flail her arms around as a weighted club, destroying her surroundings and causing passerbyers to flee.

Seeing the destruction Naruto leapt into action, chucking a nearby rock caused by her rampage at her. It bounced off of her handcuffs, not even leaving a dent and causing her to look at the blonde in silent fury. :Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?:

"Deth de'harv gothi'r!" She took a step towards him, lifting her arms to attack again when she noticed he too raised him own in front of him with palms facing outward.

:Whoa! Easy now, I just want to know why you're doing this!: She seemed to pause at his non-threatening gesture, her own arms lowering slightly before a scream pierced the sky and broke the shaky stalemate. A few onlookers were still around, hiding on the large balcony of a nearby restaurant shaped like a slice of pizza. The alien warrior jumped away from Naruto with her arms cocked back before unleashing the heavy blow against the plaza's large support beam.

The attack instantly pulverized the concrete and revealed the steel beam hidden underneath. She kept up her assault, every hit bending the beam more and more as she released a battle cry. The people were hanging on for their lives as she pulled back for one final attack when a fist impacted against the side of her head and stunned her for a brief second.

Naruto had to shake his fist, noting that just from one punch it felt like his knuckles might have been bruised and the skin split. While he was keeping her busy, he had a few clones go up and grab the floundering civilians and bring them down to a safer level. He leveled a glare at the female that matched her own as the two entered a staredown. It was unknown how long the staring match would have continued as a strange bird-shaped object hit the ground between the two and drew both of their attentions to a new figure entering the fray.

He was dressed in tight green pants, a red shirt with an 'R' printed over the left breast and green sleeves, a large yellow belt, spiky black hair, and green forearm gloves. He wore a pair of black boots with shiny metal soles and a black mask like Harley's but with a white mesh covering the eyes. Lastly, he wore a reversible cape that hung down to his knees with a yellow interior and black exterior. He looked at the two, flipping his cape over his shoulders and dropping into a offensive fighting stance.

"Who are you two?" the teen known around the criminal circuits as Robin asked lowly, his eyes narrowing behind his mask and making Naruto think of that bat man from before. Eerie. The girl, however, attempted to crush the multicolored hero with a overhand hammer strike strengthened by the gravity caused by her jump. The two continued with their game of attack and dodge, losing sight of all that happened around them.

The blonde used this opportunity to jump on top of one of those metal boxes (a car) and begin his meditation alongside two of his clones. That woman had the strength of Tsunade, and he was taking no chances if she connected with one of those hits. Baa-chan always pulled her punches. This strange person wasn't. As his copies vanished and the nature chakra once again entered his chakra streams, he released a sigh of relief. All his soreness instantly vanished due to the bolstering effects of nature and with a grin, his now golden eyes snapped open to reenter the fray.

Off in a nearby alleyway, a girl hidden in the shadows and wearing a long blue cloak that covered her easily released a light gasp. She felt as the energy around her suddenly stopped flowing smoothly and began to reverse its flow into one immediate area. She watched as it seemed to circle around the unmoving figure of a blonde boy sitting on a car before it literally began flowing inside of him and increased his already abnormally high levels of energy. She moved forward to get a better view of the boy who grasped her curiosity, pulling back the hood that shadowed her face to reveal purple hair down to her chin, pale grayish skin, and purple eyes, when she involuntarily released another gasp.

His eyes were golden and looked like an amphibians! Not only that, but there was some sort of orange markings surrounding his eyes. Who was this guy, and how could he control such an unstable energy and keep it calmly under his control? The girl known as Raven felt herself grow jealous before quickly squashing the emotion and shoving it deep within herself. '_Keep calm…stay emotionless…_' For if she did not, her own powers would grow unstable and lash out at anything and everything around her. It was both a gift and a curse.

Robin watched as the irate alien popped a car into the air with a flick of her foot and then sent it straight towards him with a swift front kick. He quickly dropped to the ground to dodge the speeding missile when a shock of orange entered his vision and caused the vehicle to stop in its flight. Hopping to his feet, the Boy Wonder witnessed the blonde from before standing in front of him, the fender of the car crushed between his hands to hold it in place. With a grunt he tossed it over his shoulder and turned to look over the other boy. Robin paused and cocked an eyebrow, looking at the shinobi in mild curiosity.

"Weren't your eyes blue before?" A quick shake of his head brought him back to the now. "Nevermind. You don't seem to be associated with her so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Just stay out of my way and things will be fine."

:I have no idea what you just said.:

The heavy pattering of footsteps interrupted their unenjoyable conversation as the redheaded attacker closed the distance between them and swung her arms like a battleaxe. It first connected with Naruto's skull, deafening the kinetic energy of the blow before connecting with Robin's chest and sent them both flying. The masked boy rolled awkwardly, landing on his stomach before slowly rising and barely dodging another deathblow by the firey-haired girl.

Backpedaling, he retrieved a small stick from his utility belt that snapped open into a sturdy bo staff. Spinning the weapon he jumped forward and felt it connect, sending the alien sailing through the air and crushing the side of a car. She immediately jumped out and growled at him, and he couldn't help but marvel at the fact his reinforced staff just crumbled into nothing after one hit.

The Tamaranean smirked, cracking her neck loud enough to cause someone to cringe as she looked at her opponent unblinkingly. "Zol'ta." And then she leapt.

Meanwhile, the leaf ninja had been knocked into a nearby office building and even in his empowered state he felt a bit dizzy from her blow. :Damn…she really hits hard…: Rising to his feet, he walked towards the hole only to see someone peering in from the outside. The person was smaller than him with a lanky build and dressed in a silver, black, and purple jumpsuit, a utility belt, and a mask with matching colors that covered nearly his whole head. The strangest part of him was the pointed ears and green skin. Yes, green skin. What the hell?

"Hey, are you okay in there!"

Naruto merely moved forward into the light, making the strange green person suddenly perk up at the action. He backed up as the blonde walked forward before both stopped and stared at each other. The smaller one moved first, snapping off a salute as his back stiffened ramrod straight.

"That was amazing, sir! You took that attack head on and your brain didn't turn into mush!" Naruto just cocked his head to the side, looking quizzically at the militaristic male in front of him and blinked twice before responding casually.

:What?:

"Nani? Did you say nani? Isn't that Japanese? Oh wow, cool! Say something else!"

:I have no idea what you're saying but I need to get back to the fight. Either stay here or find a safer place.:

"Haha sweet! There's still a fight going on so we can talk more after the battle! Let's go!" He started to run, motioning for Naruto to follow with his arms before heading back towards the battlefield. Shaking his head, he had no choice but to mimic the green teen and chase after him.

:Katsuya…this place is really weird…:

:Indeed.:

From his vantage point watched as Robin's weapon broke away into dust and the alien crack her neck. To his amazement the boy from before suddenly lengthened and changed, turning into a green-tinted cheetah in a flash before barreling into the fray. As soon the Tamaranean was about to connect her encased fists with the top of Robin's skull, the boy changed again into a emerald ram and tackled her in the side, knocking her away.

With a gymnastic twist the animalistic hero dropped to the ground and went instantly into another salute, this time aimed at Robin. He explained his code-name was Beast Boy and he used to be an ex-member of something called the Doom Patrol, until he actually got a good look at the person standing before him and caused BB to suddenly feel an amazed exhilaration.

"W-whoa? Aren't you Robin, sir? Wowzers…"

"I am…and if you really want to help out you can start by not calling me 'sir'."

The shapeshifter found himself saluting yet again, though this time his eyes were brimming with idol worship, unable to believe he was actually in the presence of _the_ Robin. You know; the one who learned all of his tricks from _the_ Batman. And they were fighting together in a battle? Like as a team?

Wowzers, indeed.

"Well let me just say it's a real honor to be-"

"Beast Boy, was it?"

"Yes, sir!"

Robin just stared at him before lifting a finger and pointing it off to the side. The changeling's eyes followed before widening comically in horror. Their opponent had recovered and now held a whole bus over her head, teeth grit tightly together even though it seemed like the motion was a walk in the park for her. With a yell she threw it, forcing them both to jump away lest they be squashed by the pounds and pounds of metal and steel.

As they willed their legs to move, both expected a loud crash or an explosion of heat and metal from the large vehicular missile. Hell, Robin was once again expecting the orange-wearing blonde from before to intervene and grab the bus. He was right about someone grabbing the transport, although this time it was actually someone else.

A large dark-skinned teen wearing sweatpants, gloves, and a hooded sweatshirt that partially obscured his face had stopped the vehicle midflight before tossing it to the ground and kicking up a small duststorm. The only noticeable oddity about him was that one of his eyes was glowing bright red from within the shadows of his hood. Strolling forward, he clenched his fists tightly at his sides before yelling out into the night sky.

"Yo! Who's been messing up my damn neighborhood!"

"She started it!" Accused the green teen, pointing over at the warrior woman only to see she was once again engaged in combat with the blonde. And it looked like he was winning this time, too.

She was growing angry. Angry at the fact she couldn't hit him. It was like trying to swat a fly. A fly that jumped around like an overcharged spring and yet could still land blows on you. But Naruto was just using what he had learned from the toads, using his leg muscles and chakra to enhance his leaps to either get close enough to his opponent in a flash or get away safely. Coupled with senjutsu, it was a deadly combo.

And try as she might, none of her wild swings were connecting. What greatly confused her though was the fact that there were even a few times where he had missed with his own kick or punch and yet she still felt like someone had hit her with the power of a Tamaranean. Koriand'r tried to sweep his legs out from under him only to see him backflip away into a low crouch, eyeing her wearily.

'_Damn, she's tough. Nearly all my attacks have hit her and yet she keeps getting back up. What the hell is she made of?_' Still crouched, the ninja created a copy of himself which held out his hands over its creator's outstretched palm. An orb of energy swirled to life, spinning brightly in its chaotic yet tamed nature. Both Naruto's rushed forward as the ball of chakra expanded to the size of a basketball. Leaping to gain height, the duo thrust it forward into the girl as they both screamed out the name of the attack in unison.

:Odama rasengan!:

The alien brought her arms up just in the nick of time, blocking the move yet still being forced into the ground as it chipped away at her strength. The other watched in silent wonder as yet another crater was formed in the street before the newest hero decided to speak up, catching the attention of the two boys standing near him.

"Wow. That was actually impressive."

"Did either of you understand what he said?" Robin asked. The sound of pages ruffling brought his attention to Beast Boy, who was eagerly flipping through an English-Japanese dictionary he had pulled from god knows where.

"Uh…he either said…great spiraling sphere…or big screw cancer? That can't be right…waaah!" The shifter jumped in fright as Naruto jumped out of the hole he created and landed next to the trio, sweating and panting lightly as the excursion had strained his lowered stamina. The marks of senjutsu vanished to their amazement, causing him to bend over and place his hands on his knees to steady himself.

:That's how you do it…dattebayo…: Both of the boys looked over to Beast Boy for an explanation but the green hero just shrugged and shook his head. Oh well, at least the menace to the city had been incapacitated.

"Shurath! For'yek lequa'h dallij!"

Or maybe not. She appeared before them, her armor and clothes beaten and dirtied. The restraints around her arms were still in place but noticeably dented and ruined but the coverings over her hands had fallen off. She aimed them at the group before both glowed in a bright green energy that mirrored her eyes, releasing the stored power at them akin to a machine gun.

The energy bolts shot through the air, connecting with their targets and causing another heated explosion. She let off the attack, taking a deep breath as she waited for any movement from with the dust and smoke. She wasn't disappointed as the four teens rushed out of the obscurant and once again were forced to dodge as she unleashed yet another volley of starbolts. The balls of ultraviolet energy flew around haphazardly, striking the nearby buildings and vehicles unlucky enough to be in their paths.

Just like before she stopped the assault but this time due to exhaustion. As steam rose from her armor in uneven patterns, she dropped to her knees while panting from the excursion. It was nighttime, meaning she couldn't absorb any energy from thos planet's sun and recharge. Instead she would have to draw energy from any sustenance she could find on this planet. Until then she would have to escape.

Meanwhile the four males had taken refuge behind the bus from earlier, each panting from the impromptu dodging match they were forced into. "That girl's gonna wreck the whole city!" the sweats-laden boy quipped. Robin just narrowed his eyes again, peering out from behind their cover to watch the girl rest.

"I won't let that happen. I won't lose this fight!" he exclaimed, slamming his right fist into his left palm. Without warning he rushed out quickly followed by the other three who believed he had some sort of plan. Their attack was shut down when a wave of black energy rose in front of them, cutting off their movement and forcing them to stop.

It took the shape of a large bird with its wings spread out, causing each of them to gape at it before a small emotionless voice from behind caused the four 'heroes' to swing around. It was the girl from the alleyway, though none of them actually knew that fact. Her bored eyes swung from teen to teen, lingering for a few seconds longer on the blonde before returning to Robin.

"Maybe fighting isn't the answer." It was a statement, not a question. The caped crusader spun on his heel to look back at the tired redhead, processing what the new girl had said before squaring his shoulders defiantly.

"Stand down." He ordered, causing the biggest of the group to bristle and stalk forward with his arms raised.

"Who the hell made you the boss?"

"Just give me a chance!"

"Um, sir…the blonde asian guy is already trying something." Beast Boy cut in, still in a salute after Robin had barked out his order.

"What!" It was true. Naruto had disappeared from their side and was steadily walking towards the downed alien. As he closed the distance she began to growl again but made no move to stop him. To everyone's amazement he just sat on the ground in front of her with his legs crossed while staring intently at both her and her bonds. Then to everyone's amazement he reached into his jacket and pulled out a slug, and then started talking to it!

:This girl is crazy! She's as powerful as Baa-chan and Sakura-chan, maybe even put together! But when I was in sage mode I could sense things so much clearer…she's scared Katsuya. Scared of this place, like a trapped animal. What should I do?:

The stalks on top of the gastropod's 'head' swiveled between Naruto and the girl, unsure of the situation as well. :As you said, she is frightened.:

:But what can we do?:

The stalks dropped lower to stare at the handcuffs before looking up into Naruto's vibrant blue eyes. :Perhaps if we free her from her bindings, she will calm down.:

:Okay, but how?;

:Allow me to try.: Nodding, he picked up the slug in his palm and pointed to it, catching the Tamaranean's full attention. He pointed to the summon again for emphasis before pointing to the metal bridge holding her arms together. He then placed his arms side by side before miming a ripping motion, freeing his arms from their invisible bonds with a happy nod. It was an archaic and crude sign language but she seemed to get the gist of it. Presenting her limbs forward, she released another throaty growl that pretty much said 'try anything and you're fucked' before the glow in her eyes faded away to reveal light green sclera and darker green irises.

The slug was gingerly placed on her right arm with its face positioned between the two. The little summon began to engorge like an overinflated tire before a jet of green ooze erupted from her 'mouth' and began sizzling away against the alien metal.

Before long the bridge had melted away and Katsuya slithered back over to Naruto. The redhead's mouth dropped into a thin line before her arms finally broke free of each other. Now that she could move only one limb at a time instead of both at once she pulled her left hand into a fist and smashed it into the right, pulling the now mangled metal off before repeating it with the other one.

Rubbing at her tender wrists she suddenly grabbed Naruto around the back of the neck and pulled him forward, meeting his lips with her own. He instantly froze, totally frozen like a deer in headlights as the girl continued to kiss him. Rather passionately, at that. Before he could finally do anything she pulled back as her eyes exploded once more into luminescence, pushing him away forcefully as she returned to a standing position.

:If you wish to not be destroyed you will leave me alone!: Bending at the knees, she launched herself into the air and began to fly away into the night sky. He could do nothing more than watch her go in a stupor, before blinking a few times and yelling out in surprise.

:Wait a minute I understood you that time!: Scratching at his yellow locks in confusion, he heard the crunch of asphalt coming closer which only revealed to be the other four teens from before. They all looked at him expectantly as though he would just easily explain what had just transpired. :What now?:

Robin sighed noisily, rubbing at the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "This language barrier is killing me. I need a translator."

Muffled garbling brought everyone's attention to the burliest of the group as he seemed to be holding his right wrist from which the noise was emanating from. "What did the girl say to you?" He pulled his sleeve back to reveal a glowing blue arm with a screen in the center that repeated his question in Japanese. Naruto paused before launching into an excited tirade of words that the small translator eagerly began to repeat in English.

"zzzzt-Oh wow, I understood that too! No one in this world spoke Elemental and then the girl with red hair kissed me, which I totally wasn't expecting! She hits hard, too, just like granny Tsunade, and I had to go into sage mode just to be able to keep up with her attacks. I'm so tired now because of everything but I think it was a rather good battle! No one was hurt and I get to stretch out my sore muscles, although I didn't like when she hit me in the head and sent me into a building…that one actually kinda hurt…"

The others listened to him ramble on and on before Robin slapped his forehead and dragged it down his face in exasperation. "ENOUGH! What did she say to you?"

"zzzzzt-What did she say? Something about if we stay away from her she won't destroy us. She's in a new place and the people around here started annoying her. It's no wonder she lashed out."

"That may be…*sigh* well it looks like we're done here. Thanks for your help, everyone." he said as he began to walk away. Raven spoke up, catching his attention though he never stopped in his movement.

"You're still going to find the alien?"

"I have to see if she's a threat."

The dark-skinned teen looked away, mumbling to himself just loud enough for the girl to hear. "More like going to see if he can get a kiss of his own." Raven just rolled her eyes. Naruto snickered, having heard it though the translator still active on the man's arm.

Beast Boy raced after Robin to offer assistance but he shot him down, stating he worked alone and didn't need any sort of team to watch his back. Dejected, he turned around to see the unnamed teenager walking away as the girl seemed to be staring off into space. Naruto was still lazing on the ground, watching the others in child-like curiosity. Beast Boy attempted to get the others to try and team up or just possibly hang out. His energetic comments irked the one boy, causing him to rip his hood off and expose the fact that his arm wasn't the only part of him with cybernetic implants.

"See this? I had an accident and now I'm a **monster**! A cyborg! Now get the hell away from me!"

"…cyborg?...coooooooooooooooool…you're like Robotman 2.0!"

Cyborg was taken aback, his anger instantly dissolving as he stared at the smaller, greener teen in surprise. "You're a weird little dude, you know that?" Not waiting for an answer the robotic teenager pulled his hood back on and continued his walk, leaving Beast Boy by himself in the middle of the street.

The changeling suddenly screamed in terror, pointing towards the large alien ship now flying above the buildings. It moved forward at a steady pace before stopping and hovering over a small island out in the bay for no apparent reason. Bay doors on the bottom of the craft hissed open before dropping its load to the earth below. An object shaped like the Statue of Liberty's torch hit the rocky terrain, spewing fire from exhaust ports situated on the upper half of the pod.

Cyborg's human eye narrowed as he stared out at the scene, knowing things had most likely taken another turn for the worst. "Looks like space girl has got herself from friends."

"Or enemies." Robin interjected as he, Raven, and Naruto stepped up next to the metal man and the shapeshifter. Each watched as electrical energy arced from the uppermost point of the torch before extinguishing as a massive hologram overtook the airspace above the island. It showed a scaly blue alien with a yellow underbelly and fins, as though they were descendants of Merpeople or something. When it started to speak, everyone (bar Naruto) paid attention to its speech.

"**People of Earth. We have come to your planet to reclaim a rather dangerous criminal. If you do not interfere in our search you shall not be harmed. But if you attempt to assist her…you will be destroyed.**" Having said its piece, the alien's hologram cut out in the same fashion as it appeared before the outermost lying areas of the drop pod opened. Waves of the same species of creatures began to exit the torch and fly towards the city, eager to begin their sweep of the area and find their escaped prisoner.

"…that's a big ship…" – Cyborg.

"And some scary lookin' aliens!" – Beast Boy.

"They told us not to interfere." – Raven.

The aliens drew ever closer as the cybernetic human turned to look at the smaller martial artist. "You're still gonna look for her, aren't ya?" The Boy Wonder's reply was nothing more than a silent nod.

"What about us?" BB asked excitedly, causing Robin's mouth to quirk upwards into a small grin.

"I suppose I could team up for now." The others smiled as well, before Raven suddenly stiffened and turned around. Raising one of her delicate fingers, she pointed towards the city's resident blonde shinobi who apparently was back to conversing with that strange slug of his.

"What about our word-challenged friend?"

The three boys shared a look before Cyborg shrugged and answered for the rest of them. "I think he's proven he's capable of taking care of himself. Let's see if he wants to join." And so he did. After all, once it was explained a bunch of aliens were looking for the girl from before it reminded him of how Akatsuki had hunted him. Criminal or not, he wouldn't allow that to happen to her.

As the boys began walking away, Robin looked back to notice Raven still had yet to move from her spot. Motioning for the others to stop, he turned and took a few steps back to gain her attention. "Aren't you coming?"

The blank look she was sporting seemed to actually grow dimmer as her eyes looked towards the ground and her head twisted so she wouldn't have to look any of the others in the eye. "I'm…not really the type to go around being a hero…if you knew what I actually was, you wouldn't want me on your team." Having said her words, she spun around fully to expose her back to them.

Cyborg and Beast Boy shared a look as Robin gave a small shake of his head. Striding forward, he placed his gloved palm against her shoulder in a complacent gesture. Slightly startled, she twisted only to see everyone smiling at her without worry. "I know enough." It wasn't much, but the trust they were placing in her brought a small smile to the young woman's face. It felt nice to have others actually believe in her for once.

As the group began searching for the scarce red-hair, the Gordanians were moving haphazardly through the city in an attempt to find their wayward escapee. Nothing was passed up as the aqua colored creatures overturned cars and ripped open storefronts. But even with their rather rough way of scouring the areas, no evidence was turning up.

Naruto watched from a nearby alleyway as three of the aliens flew past, wondering why the small group he was currently in was taking their sweet old time in the search. The metal boy that looked like he was from Kumogakure had turned off the translator in his arm as he and the green animal child did something that reminded him of the Inuzuka tracking teams back home. The similarities almost made him laugh. Especially since the canine form BB had taken looked nothing like Akamaru or any of the other ninja dogs.

A prickling sensation alerted him to someone watching him, causing the blonde to look around and yet see nothing out of the ordinary. Confused, he just shrugged and went back to following the others. Unbeknownst to him Raven was still keeping an curious eye on the blonde, thankful for the fact her hood kept most of her face hidden away from view. She could feel the demonic energy hidden inside of his core, held back by another intangible barrier. It both made her nervous and somewhat excited.

"Hey, I got a match!" She dipped her head lower, walking in step behind the others as they moved through the back alleys. The youki felt much more potent than hers and that was troubling. Sometime soon she would have to ask him about it.

So lost in her thoughts she nearly walked headlong into the brick wall known as Cyborg's back. The heartbeat scanner on his arm was going haywire as their resident bloodhound began baying to the skies. It seemed it wasn't actually that hard to find where she had gone…

Especially since there was a large hole melted through the metal barrier drawn over the door of the nearby video store. Smacking noises wafted out from the molten opening, causing the five teenagers to cautiously enter the premises. Most were shocked to see their rogue alien downing sugar-coated treat after treat like a rabid animal. "Um…those might taste better if you took all the wrappers off…" quipped Beast Boy. Licking her lips and wiping her mouth with her armored sleeve, her eyes narrowed upon seeing the ones who attacked her before.

Instantly, energy formed in her hands as her whole of her eyes once again blazed to life with her powerful solar energy. Releasing a low snarl, she took a menacing step forward that caused BB to yelp and the others to take up defensive postures.

"Whoa! We're not here to fight! We're friends, remember?" Robin shouted worriedly, holding his hands up in a non-threatening manner as Cyborg's translator changed his words into Japanese. She seemed to snarl again, never once lowering her threatening mannerism.

"zzzzt-Friends? What is this? What is the purpose for freeing me?" Every sentence her rage seemed to grow even more, and to add to her threats she stepped forward with every movement dripping with killing intent. This naturally caused the others to back up in case she did attack. All but Naruto, who found himself nearly face to face with the alien yet again. Her proximity caused him to discreetly palm a few shuriken from his pack which didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"Dude…is he a ninja? That's so awesome!"

"Not now!" The masked hero shot back, watching the two as they seemed to enter a standoff. Cyborg raised his arm, positioning it closer to the duo so as to pick up any conversation that may happen between them.

:We're just trying to be nice. You don't have to be such a damn jerk about it!:

:Nice? On my planet we don't have a word for…nice. The closest my people have is weak!"

:Being nice to someone doesn't make it a weakness! It shows you can show compassion to someone! Now stop being so damn stubborn and tell us why the hell those ugly fish things are chasing after you!:

The Tamaranean paused before finally lowering her pulsing hands and releasing the emerald glow. She almost seemed to grow timid, closing her eyes and clasping her hands together in front of her stomach. :It is because they have taken me from my home. I am their 'prize', and the Gordanians wish to recapture me and then take me back to the Citadel where I will live out the rest of my days as their slave.:

"Who are the Citadel?" the blue clad hanyou asked, causing the redhead to look over at her as the translator did its business.

:They are…not nice…:

"Well they aren't going to find you if I can help it." Beast Boy cleared his throat, raising one finger into the air as the other hand rested in the small of his back as he looked over into Robin's unblinking white mesh.

"Don't you mean we?"

No one else had the time to respond as the building was suddenly overcome by an explosion caused by a focused energy blast. Swiftly recovering, the six teens stiffened at the sight of nearly all members of the Gordanian search team waiting behind the cracked and crumbling former wall. They all shared a silent look before Naruto grinned and threw the ninja stars he still held, hitting two of the aliens in their limbs that elicited a yell of pain.

The action caused the scaly creatures to finally begin their own attack as they proceeded to swarm through the hole en-mass. The others charged in turn as fists, legs, and energy blasts flew through the air without abandon. The red-haired Tamaranean was blown outwards into the street followed by three Gordanians and two were instantly taken out of the fight by her starbolts.

The final one was able to dodge her attacks and hit her with a spinning heel drop, forcing Starfire into the cement and cracking the pavement. An overcharged energy staff was almost driven into her abdomen until Robin disarmed the opponent he was fighting, tossing it over his shoulder and into the one looming over downed warrior. The two exchanged quick smiles before diving back into the brawl.

Cyborg was caught in an explosion that reduced his clothing to tatters, revealing the glowing blue upgrades that he had tried hiding from the world. After taking out about six of them, he had to retreat via a pterodactyl-BB or be caught in a barrage of energy blasts. Raven took out the remaining Gordanians with a makeshift street lamp club covered in her dark psychic energy.

Naruto was actually having some fun. Even tired, he was still quicker than the aliens and it helped that for every blue monster that surrounded him he simply created a copy to cause them annoyance. Two of them broke off after popping their kage bunshin and rushed the original, causing him to bring up his arms to guard their own fists.

Dropping lower he grabbed the one on the left by his forearm and twisted, pushing out with his leg and knocking it into the wall where he proceeded to deliver another kick to its chest followed by using its face as a springboard. A clone that had defeated his enemy prior jumped to his side and began jabbing his hand at its creator's open palm all in the span of a few seconds. A small glow grew into a ever growing sphere until it reached the size of a small cantaloupe, the chakra speeding around inside like a raging windstorm. Thrusting it forward he jammed it into the chest of the second Gordanian in a primal yell:

:RASENGAN!:

The spiraling circle of physical and spiritual energy connected, grinding away at the alien's natural armor and sending it careening away into the street outside. He heard one of them cry out like the chattering of an angry cicada, and the others answered in a short burst of echoing noise. They all rose to their feet (to the best of their ability) and fled to the sky, disappearing in the night.

Naruto released a woop of joy and regrouped with the others, grinning wildly at once again kicking bad-guy butt. Stalking closer, their own resident alien caught Naruto's eye and gave him a strange look. Her face almost seemed blank as though she was truly unsure of what to do know. :I believe the expression used in this type of situation is…thanks.:

He blinked a few times at the way she said it but smiled widely anyways. Resting his arms behind his head, he gave her one of his closed-eyes fox-like smiles and happily chirped a response. :You're welcome!: This time it was her turn to blink, unaccustomed to hearing a complete stranger be so pleasant to her in all of her life.

"Anybody know what they're saying this time?" drawled Raven, her cloak fluttering in the night breeze.

"No but it made sure blondie-MMmph!" Cyborg was cut off as the girl mashed her lips against his. Not as passionate as the one with Naruto, but it still sent the black teenager's mind reeling. Pulling back, she gained the stares of everyone present as she took a few steps back and cleared her throat.

"I thank you all as well for being…nice…and joining in the fighting."

"…if those are your thanks can I get one too?" Beast Boy asked, only to get smacked by Raven, Cyborg, and Robin. "Ow! I'm just asking! Sheesh!...what about a thank you for Ms. Gloomy over here instead?" This time he was sent sailing through the air from a telekinetic blast courtesy of Raven. She was doing her best to hide the embarrassed and angry blush that had blossomed over her face, staring at the ground as the boys around her tried to not meet her eyes. That friggin' idiot!

"I do not understand."

"Uh, don't worry about it." Robin coughed awkwardly as he looked at Cyborg. The metal man felt the night breeze graze his now exposed skin and that in turn caused him to finally notice his clothes had nearly disintegrated. A groan of anguish passed his lips as he tugged at the tattered remains hanging from his pelvis.

"Aw man! My suit…"

"So what? You look way cooler without it!" the shape changer spouted, giving him a thumbs up only to shrink under the glowing gaze of the half-robot.

"Like I'm taking advice on fashion from the guy in a goofy mask."

"…goofy? But my mask is cool…right?" Everyone shook their head, even Naruto who just followed the example of everyone else. "But my secret identity will be out in the open!"

"What secret identity? You're green."

Beast Boy stayed silent at the hanyou's revelation before finally shrugging and removing the silver mask. Short and spiky hair of a darker green sprung up as he itched at the marks left on his face. Robin walked up pulling Naruto along as he brought their focus once again to the present.

"Now that we've interfered they should be after all of us."

"And Trogar shall strike harder." The redhead added quickly. "It is only a matter of time."

KSSSSSSSSSSSSSHZZZT

"**Fools! You Earth-scum were warned! Your insolence will be punished and your city shall be destroyed!**" As quickly as the Gordanian hologram burst to life it quickly disappeared yet again. Their ship made its way over the heart of the city and began to power up the large cannon attached to the front, causing the citizens of Jump City to run in terror. Naruto was once again brought up to speed and it caused him to begin swearing in Japanese. These bastards didn't know when to give up.

The Tamaranean began to yell at Robin for their interference and that in turn caused him to yell back. This was followed by a screaming Beast Boy and Cyborg. Raven found herself rubbing her temples in annoyance before she screamed at all of them to shut up. Instant silence was her reward and it caused her to shyly wave and give a small "Hi".

It was actually helpful though as it cleared the Boy Wonder's senses enough to help him think clearly. Giving a small speech, he was able to rally the others to work together and with a surge of Raven's power they found themselves instantaneously teleported inside of the Gordanian ship.

A small statement from BB about Raven's energy caused her to feel partially depressed but a few choice words from Cyborg got her back in the game. As they skulked around the ship, it wasn't long before they found themselves once again surrounded and under attack by the slavers. The front line was steamrolled by a wave of Naruto clones, as he was growing very tired of these assholes and their stupid, sharp-toothed faces. In the confusion Robin palmed an explosive bird-a-rang and chucked it at the large doors, blowing them off their hinges and stunning the aliens hiding within. They had been speaking about the six annoyances and what should be done with them, until Robin stepped in and spoke for themselves.

"We're not six. We're a team, and you're going down!"

Punch

Kangaroo kick

Energy wave

The Gordanian's couldn't stand against the assault as they fell one by one. Trogar found himself staggered by a double uppercut courtesy of Cy and the Koriand'r. Though it hurt he still found a way to fight back, disrupting Cyborg's arm stability in the process.

"Is there any way to rewire that into some weapon?" Robin asked, slowly rising to his feet as he stared at the metal man's sparking limb.

"I can try it." He too rose to his feet only to see that for the umpteenth time they were once again surrounded. Raven seemed to take it quite personally as she helped Beast Boy to his feet, ordering them to stay away from her **friends** with finality. It was a word she wasn't familiar with, but yelling that the others were her friends felt like the perfect thing to say in that moment.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The bridge of the ship erupted into demonically fueled energy, explosions lancing out into the atmosphere as the vessel lost power and crashed into the waters below. All but Trogar was unconscious as he stood before the energy user and shapeshifter. The alien's claws grew in length, shining in the ship's light source as he raised them above his head for the kill.

That was, until a blast of sonic energy corkscrewed into his unprotected back and knocked him to the floor, forcing him to finally lose consciousness as the wounds took their toll. Cyborg's new sonic cannon powered down, humming lowly as he cocked his arm back. "Y'know, I'm only gonna say this once…BOOYA!"

The others released a small cheer as Naruto released the flow of wind chakra funneling through the kunai he had aimed at the alien leader's back and resheathed it, giving a tired grin before plopping down and inhaling deeply. Katsuya slithered out of his jacket, her eye stalks swiveling around and looking at the others to assess their damage. Satisfied there was nothing life threatening at the moment she returned to her temporary home inside his black and orange jacket.

"Good job, everyone. Let's regroup on that island over there." said Robin, pointing to the landmass where the Gordanian drop ship still resided. "Raven, could you?"

"Yes." Taking a deep breath, her eyes seemed to glow before the tide of black youki surrounded the six teens and transported them to their destination. As soon as the newly risen sun touched their skin Starfire excused herself to find a private spot to remove her battle armor, leaving the others to their own devices.

Five minutes passed and the group found themselves staring out at the horizon, marveling at the simplistic beauty it possessed. Raven remarked on how it was quite a view with Cyborg instantly agreeing and adding someone should build a residence out there. Wanting to add his own thing, Beast Boy tried a joke and actually got the dark female to giggle. She even called him funny before seeing his reaction and instantly regretting it.

A footstep behind them caused the group to turn only to see Starfire in long purple boots, a purple mini skirt and tank top, metal forearm protectors and a lone metal band around her right bicep, and her hair combed and brushed. "Please…I look nice?" Her posture even screamed that she felt kind of shy in the situation.

The boy from Gotham stepped forward, meeting her halfway up the incline with a smile on his face. "I don't even know your name."

"In your language, it is Star. Fire."

"Well, welcome to Earth, Starfire."

Her green eyes sparkled in happiness as she looked upon the others, giving a smile of her own. "I thank you all for your help! And I wish to ask for permission to stay here, where the people are most strange and yet…most kind."

"You don't have to ask for permission." said Raven, pulling her cloak about her body.

"But if you want our friendship, then you have it." Robin added.

"We could all use some new friends." followed Cyborg, walking closer as did the others.

"And we make a pretty good team, don't we?" Beast Boy finished as they all formed a circle. Robin passed out a small yellow and black communicator to the others as he explained that he and Cyborg had whipped them up from some of the cybernetic male's circuits. A sudden snort broke the team mentality as they realized one was missing from the group.

A quick search revealed the wayward blonde fast asleep amongst the soft grass, his jacket ripped open from their last battle as the slug summon laid upon ground next to him. One hand was idly scratching at his stomach while the other was behind his head as a makeshift pillow. He had fallen asleep almost instantly as the sandman overwhelmed his senses, the near full day of staying awake finally catching up to him.

Starfire giggled at the scene and Raven even cracked a smile. Was it just them or did his face almost look like a fox? Nah, that can't be right. Little did they know that their new blonde acquaintance held more than just a passing resemblance to the furry animal. And that one fact would be revealed in the days to come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: I'm just getting out the beginnings of stories I've had ideas for, so at least I can work on them sometime later. And sorry about anything in the Tamaran dialect. My Tamaranean's been a bit rusty lately, so excuse any misspellings. Wow, longest first chapter ever, too. I wanted to get the Go! Episode down and before I knew it I was past the 10,000 mark._

_Also, my inspiration is pretty much me watching or seeing something that day and going, "Yeah I could do something with that." More than like half or so of the Naruto/Teen Titans crossovers are by Kyuubi16. Not that I'm complaining but it's kinda silly to scroll down the page and see Kyuubi, Kyuubi, Kyuubi, etc._

_I'm just trying my own way, a possible more realistic way. From what I've read, he either angrily comes here to escape Konoha and either joins HIVE or becomes a thief (usually Red X), or through the chidori/rasengan portal. He uses some demonic move that instantly lets him learn everything about this world and lets him fit in easily and speak the language._

_NOT THIS TIME, BUCKO_

_He will learn and struggle, sort of like Starfire except he actually knows earth customs and the like. Things like technology though…he'll be like WTFx3._

_Pairings…I'm thinking both Starfire and Raven, but more with Starfire. **__**WORD OF WARNING= If the story goes in the way I'm thinking, it's gonna get pretty dark around the Trigon arc. It was an idea I thought of that I don't believe has ever been tried before and I need to work out the kinks. You'll just have to wait and see. It will lighten up afterwards but will probably be angsty for a bit.**_

_As for sage Naruto vs. Starfire…I'm not exactly sure how the two stack up but I think it may be close. Naruto gets a massive power boost while Tamaraneans are naturally that strong, but Naruto has many more tricks up his sleeve. I think Naruto would truly win but it's really an unknown._

_Reviews? Nice. Enjoying the story or any of my other ones? Thank you. Complaints? Ah well. They bugged me at first but now I just read then ignore and possibly laugh at them._

_Toodle loo, ya'll. Next up on Gavedin's newest crossovers is a Naruto/Haruhi Suzumiya. Make way for the madness._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nein! Ich keine eigenen Naruto oder Teen Titans! In other words, I don't own either of them. Got it memorized?

**Chapter 2:**

"Alright, now bring those panels over here so I can weld them down!" With a snap-hiss, Cyborg's finger reconfigured itself into a compact yet powerful blowtorch as he yelled out. A week had passed since the day of the incident with Starfire and things were moving along as smoothly as they could be. The island in the bay had been designated as their new headquarters and the idle drop ship had been scrapped and plundered for parts.

Cyborg had immediately started construction on a home base, using the free labor also known as Naruto's clones to quickly speed up production. The others did what they could to help but the job was mostly left to the group's resident tech junkie.

Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven used their time to teach the original Naruto and Starfire about the world they were now a part of. For the Tamaranean, it was the simple things that astounded her such as what food should not be mixed together as well as the facets of earthling interaction. It seemed the alien race was much more open with their relationships when they grew emotionally close to someone, and the redhead had trouble grasping the fact that simple actions such as successfully answering a question didn't warrant one of her death hugs.

For Naruto it was technology. Yes, the Elemental Nations had electronic devices like television and radios, but they were primarily used for mission situations or emergencies. People here watched tv for kicks! And there were those things called cars and planes and robots and more! It was making his brain ache from information overload. Not only that, but the other teens were doing their best to teach him English with Starfire as a translator when the need arose. So far he had picked up on basic words and sentences as he had a clone work with each person to speed up the process, and he was growing more fluent as more time passed.

Today his clones were working with his new cybernetic buddy so they could finish up the living quarters of the building which oddly enough was shaped like a giant 'T'. It was crafted that way so people would recognize who they were and what their new team name was: the Teen Titans. It wasn't the first name that was thrown out but it was the one that stuck.

**FLASHBACK**

"_We're back and we've got good news!" Robin shouted as Starfire released the hold she had underneath the brightly colored boy's armpits, allowing him to safely drop to the uneven ground. Clutched tightly within his hands were a few sheets of pristine white paper. The others moved closer to the duo, wondering exactly what Robin was so happy about._

"_So what's got you bouncing around, sir?" Beast Boy asked before withering under the look he received. He would have to be broken of that vocal conditioning soon._

"_Starfire and I spoke with the mayor of Jump City and we were able to get his approval for basing our team here in the city. It makes things easier when the government actually knows you're on the right side of the law…" He seemed to drop into his thoughts for a moment before shaking his head and coming back to reality. "He also allowed up to use this island as our base of operations."_

"_And this 'may-yor' has most graciously allowed me to stay within the city and stay here with my…friends, as long as problems such as the Gordanians do not happen again!" The term friendship was still foreign to Koriand'r, but the concept was becoming easier to say with each passing. Naruto raised his hand before pointing to himself, earning a happy nod from the female. :Yes, you as well Friend Naruto!:_

_She handed him a small card with his picture and information they were able to glean from him. Seeing as he was the first to interact with Starfire when she first landed, law enforcement had become wary of him and wanted to know what they could about him. The blonde didn't really care, as it was just simple info like his name and birth date. The male just grinned as he took his card and pocketed it, earning a thumbs up from the shapeshifter and a pat on the back from Cy._

"_Now that all of the legal work is out of the way, we can get to work."_

"_Hold up!" Everyone stopped, looking at the green teen curiously. "If we're now some super duper crime fighting team, we need a name. Something cool like the Doom Patrol!" The others began arguing, coming up with strange or exotic labels. The conversation continued until the soft-spoken Raven opened her mouth and somehow caught the attention of the others._

"_How about…the Teen Titans?" The others contemplated her input silently before the ashen-skinned girl found herself being pulled into one of Starfire's bone-breaking embraces. _

"_Oh, Friend Raven! That is a wondrous name!" The hanyou struggled within her grip, thanking the fact that her fellow female was giving her a 'happy hug' and not an 'ecstatic hug'._

"_Let…go…" Thankfully she did, releasing the girl so she could inhale precious oxygen. _

"_So we get to do whatever we want with the island right? Because I know just the perfect place to start as a base…" Cyborg grinned slyly, casually pointing over to the empty shell of alien technology._

**END**

Naruto snapped out of his minor daydream as he sat out underneath the cloudy sky, noticing a slender hand snapping its fingers in front of his face. It wasn't his fault that learning a new language was pretty damn boring. Smiling sheepishly he apologized, causing Raven to lean back in her spot and roll her eyes in their sockets. Nodding to Star the girl asked a new question in his native tongue.

:_What is thank you in English?_:

The boy paused before remembering, speaking out excitedly as the words were formed on his tongue. "Thank you!" The others nodded in affirmation, causing the blonde to pump his fist in victory. They had been working for days now and he knew he was getting better. He could even talk to them in basic sentences now. At night he was getting extra help from Katsuya who, strangely enough, never poofed back to her home world. Neither knew the reason why but Naruto was secretly happy. He wouldn't be alone in this new world. Sure, he had new friends but none of them had any links back to the Elemental Nations.

He couldn't seem to summon any toads which sucked big time. It was like there was some sort of anti-summoning barrier around this place. There went any idea of trying to use the toads to communicate with Konoha. Back to the little slug, her recognition of the English language was a lot quicker than his own. Damn that little partially-amorphous blob.

Raven nodded once again before standing and brushing loose grass from her uncovered legs. "That's enough for today. Let's go and see what the others are up to."

"Thank you, Raven." A ghost of a smile crossed the girl's lips before she turned and began walking back towards the unfinished tower. Robin and Beast Boy closely followed, eager to see how the unfinished girders and unattached electronics were coming along. Naruto hopped onto his own two feet, stretching the muscles to return proper blood flow before turning towards the bronze-skinned alien still on the grass. "Go?"

Starfire smiled before hovering a few centimeters above the ground, floating next to the blonde as they began their own trek towards the building. The two remained quiet, unsure of what to say to each other but thankfully it was broken when the girl cleared her throat and brought his attention onto her.

:_Friend Naruto…I wished to thank you once again for aiding me against the Gordanians. If not…_: He knew exactly why she trailed off in her speech. If he and the others hadn't stepped in then Starfire would be off on another planet being forced to serve a bunch of freaky fish assholes.

:_Don't worry about it. No one should be forced into something they don't want._: His hand drifted to his stomach, gripping the fabric of his worn jacket as he spoke. An action that did not go unnoticed by the redhead as her emerald eyes locked on his figure.

:_Why do you touch your main stomach? Are you injured?_: He blinked, looking down before quickly releasing the cloth between his fingers and rubbing at the nape of his neck.

:_No, no. Not anymore. I've pretty much recovered by now from when I first came here. It was a bitch trying to fight you without being at full strength, heh. Anyways, I'm fine!_: He gave her a cheesy smile that the girl mimicked, wondering why he was acting strange. "Find others and eat food?" he asked in his broken speech, causing Starfire to make a happy sound and begin floating around the blonde. Grabbing him by the arm she quickly dragged him towards the others who were all standing outside the front door.

Agreeing that they were all feeling hunger and that it was close to lunchtime, it was decided they would go out and get a meal. With a controlled twitch of her mind Raven engulfed the six of them in her blackened psychic energy and transported the lot of them through empty space and onto one of the main streets of the city. As the bubble dissipated, whispers arose from nearby citizens as their newest group of heroes walked inside of a burger joint.

"They're staring at us." Cyborg whispered loudly, fighting the urge to cover his synthetic replacements that were out in the open for everyone to see. A hand on his shoulder held him in his place in the line as Robin shook his head negatively.

"They're still getting used to the fact that there are now people in this city that work to protect them. Give it some time and soon enough we'll just be another sight in the town." The large teen felt better by his words but still attempted to duck down. A thought crossed his mind, causing him to scratch at his chin in thought.

"Wait. What about the police? They protect the city too." Robin just stayed silent before shrugging and turning away. Yeah, they had law enforcement here but they weren't as cracked up as they could be. Why else would they now need a team of people with powers to combat villains also with powers? Exactly.

The group placed their orders, having to show the mayor's decree when they told the cashier to forward the bill to the mayor's office as well as explain to the two out-of-towners what the restaurant served. Silence reigned for a time as the group moved onwards and sat down at two booths. Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven were seated at one while Robin, Naruto, and Starfire were in the other.

"So how's your progress going, Naruto?" The Boy Wonder asked, looking over at the ninja expectantly. Naruto finished downing his second triple-stacker hamburger before taking a gulp of his soft drink and answering back.

"Good!"

The changeling shifted around in his seat, leaning over the booth railing and peering at them with large eyes. "Once you learn English you should totally teach me Japanese! Then we can have super secret conversations with each other and I can hit on girls in a whole 'nother language! Twice as any potential hotties!"

Everyone had a blank face, none more so than Naruto as they listened to the green male dive off into his fantasies. The shinobi's brain was able to process the basic gist of what he was asking, so he gave a curt nod to his new friend. "Yes?"

"Woohoo!" He began dancing in his seat, shimmying around to an unheard beat. Unbeknownst to the green teen, Cyborg and Raven were sneakily pilfering his fries from behind his back. His veggie burger still lay alone and half-eaten on his tray. Finishing his gyrations the teen swiveled back around in his spot only to have his jaw drop in disbelief upon seeing that his side dish was now completely empty. "Dude…"

"Too slow, BB. Gotta always be vigilant with your food." Cyborg added as he went back to his own meal. It was then noticed that the apathetic girl also sitting in their booth was licking her fingers free of salt. The changeling blanched, sucking in a breath before releasing it in a sigh and stooping his head lower.

"You too, Rae? What the hell?" She just shrugged, smirking at his misfortune and returning to her own meal as the others laughed. A few flies buzzed around the fast-food place, a perfectly normal occurrence due to the high amount of trash and excessively greasy foods. What they failed to notice, however, was that three of the unassuming insects were hovering around them and yet _not_ around them. Two were positioned on the wall and not moving while the third lazily buzzed the airspace above the teenagers.

All of them had their miniscule, multi-faceted eyes locked on the six heroes. Eyes that continued to take pictures and live video feed that was continuously sent back to their creator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the shadows, a man hummed to himself as he sat leisurely in a padded swivel chair. Several screens held still frames of the different Teen Titans as he continued to keep tabs on his newest interests. Yes, they were on opposite sides of the law but Slade Wilson didn't spare any attention to that fact. He leaned into his palm, tapping his full head-covering mask with his pointer finger as thoughts circulated throughout his calculating mind.

'_The Teen Titans, eh?...the newest superheroes on the block, and from what I've witnessed they each have their own special abilities. Especially that blonde one. Robin has much potential as well._'

Idea after idea came to the masked man as his silver, black, and orange armor clinked in response to his movements. But what could he do? He wished to test them, see if any were worthy enough to be…'persuaded' to join under his tutelage. But it would be too soon to reveal himself as the Titans had yet to truly impress the mindless sheep that lived in the city.

His lone visible eye narrowed at the thought. Without someone to give them orders, the people would simply go on with their dreary and boring lives. That was why Slade had risen to the position he was in now. To be the one that altered the status quo and brought life into their monotonous lives. He was better than them, simple as that.

And he would show them all.

Snapping his fingers, the sound cracked outwards into the shadows as he leaned back into a more comfortable position in his seat. He didn't even twitch when six heavy objects fell from the ceiling and landed in a circle formation around his position. Steam hissed from their joints as their lone robotic eye swiveled around in its socket in the middle of their shiny heads. Each held unassuming and blank armor, so as to show they held no allegiance to anyone. That was how Slade wished it, and that was how they would appear.

"Your targets are the six teenagers on the screen. You are to hunt them down and engage in combat. Do not return unless they are destroyed. Now go." Each machine made a noise akin to a response before leaping back into the shadows with nary a sound. Slade hummed again, returning his attention to the screens in front of him. The green one known as Beast Boy was attempting to steal the blonde known as Naruto's disgustingly greasy fried potato slices and soundly failing. It was like he was watching a comedy sketch and not a bunch of children that took out an invading force of violent aliens.

"Show me if you are indeed worthy of my attention…" he chuckled to himself before standing and snapping off the view screen. Perhaps it would bode better if he were there to witness the battle in person? Besides, it's not like they would notice him. Not unless he wished it.

At that the masked rogue disappeared into the shadows, following after his metallic creations to get a front row seat to the upcoming fireworks. Hopefully they would be explosive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ah, man! That hit the spot!"

"I agree. The burgers of ham were most exquisite! I hope that we may venture here again in the future!"

As of now, the six teenagers were walking down one of the streets while taking the time to let their food digest. People were still staring and whispering but the tides of their gossip had changed after word got around that they were the ones who fought off the aliens from a week ago. Some nodded or waved, and a few, much to Beast Boy's delight, were already turning into instant fans. He would occasionally try flexing or flirting, only to cause them to retreat back into their groups and giggle. Ah, the high life…

"Now what…all do?" asked Naruto as he looked around, oblivious to some of the stares he was receiving. He was just enjoying the fact that he didn't feel any deathly glares burning into him as he strolled down the pavement. A drop of liquid splattered against his nose, causing him to twitch and wipe at the water.

The others looked up as the sky split open and rain began falling at a quickening pace, forcing them to duck under whatever cover they could find. Thunder and lightning exploded in the sky as the downpour quickly covered the city in its chilled liquid. Shaking his head and making sure his hair poofed back into its slick spikes, Robin began ringing his cape out as he looked at the others. "Well that was unexpected."

"Did anybody else know it was going to rain?" Raven queried, encasing her body in a thin layer of energy that instantly dried her skintight clothing. The others just shook their heads, having had no prior knowledge of the weather. The girl suddenly paused, feeling a strange disturbance in the air but for the life of her she couldn't pinpoint the uneasiness. "Wait…what is that?" The others followed her finger to see a glowing red light off in the distance. It was soon followed by the creak of metal and five identical vermillion orbs.

"Maybe it's some more new fans with a bunch of red flashlights?"

"Good guess, but I think you're wrong BB." They watched as six mechanical beings walked forward into view, their optical units piercing through the watery haze and locking onto the Titans. They were vaguely humanoid, with heavy metal plating forming a skeletal structure over the outlying 'skin'. Their legs were reverse jointed at the knees, and their hands and feet ended in bulbous protrusions with four claws each (think of MGS Cyborg Ninja but with added metal skeleton and Mega Man appendages).One seemed to motion its arm forward as it released a small shrill before the robots began to charge. They each felt themselves automatically pop into a stance ready to attack and counter as their new opponents drew ever nearer. Feeling as though someone should say something, Robin yelled out the first thing that came to his mind concerning his new team:

"Titans, GO!"

Seeing that as the starting signal the group rushed out of their cover to meet their new enemy head on. An unspoken conversation passed between the teens as they each broke off to engage a single unit themselves, the robots mimicking their actions as the battles became one on one.

Robin began by pulling out his collapsible staff, smacking away his opponent's straight thrust and stabbing the end of the weapon into the robot's chest. There was a high-pitched screech as the two metals rubbed against each other but to Robin's shock there wasn't even an indentation. He had put plenty of power behind that thrust, too. Jumping away to dodge the hammer strike aimed for his skull he removed a bird-a-rang from its spot in his belt and began analyzing the robot for any sign of weakness.

The next robot creaked backwards after being struck head on by a charging rhinoceros only to dig its talons into the earth and hold its ground. Twisting its hips, the droid flipped the animal over its shoulder as the whole upper half of its body swiveled backwards. The creation's palm hissed open as light coalesced in the opening, humming with power before the contained energy ripped free in a condensed laser. The beam lanced forward, scraping past Beast Boy's shoulder as the boy transformed yet again to dodge the attack. Taking the shape of a peregrine falcon he did his best to maneuver through the sudden light show as the robot continued firing.

He passed by Starfire who found herself doing the same action with her own opponent. Noticing she was losing distance against the attacker but gaining ground on her new friend's, she grabbed its forearm and flew overhead which caused the attacker to bend backwards at the waist. Focusing her power into her arm, the Tamaranean dropped her limb in a heavy chop. The move disconnected the arm in a shower of oil before she grabbed its neck and twisted. The machine's head now hung lamely at an unhealthy angle, but to the redhead's surprise it wasn't dead. Just…floppy.

With a renewed roar she began beating the machine with its own arm, a comical sight if not for the fact they were all currently in battle.

Cyborg and his foe were duking it out, matching each other blow for blow in the middle of the street. He went to throw an uppercut only to be hit in the head by an…arm? Clutching at his skull he turned to yell at the new threat, only to scream and duck underneath the destroyed remains that went sailing into the robot he had been fighting. Both were knocked to the ground in a heap as Starfire stomped over.

"What the hell, Star? I'm working here!" The glow in her eyes dulled to reveal her normal irises, her face taking on an abashed look.

"My apologies, Friend Cyborg. I did not mean to injure you in-eeek!" The Tamaranean was suddenly thrown forward into the mechanical man as something barreled into her back, knocking them all into the small pile before them. It turned out to be Robin, who had been smacked away by his own opponent. Raven and Beast Boy were faring no better, having no group dynamics and getting in each other's way. It soon turned into a shouting match as the five teens began their own infighting.

Meanwhile, Naruto had one ear kept open as he heard snippets of their yells. Every other sense was focused on the weird mechanical man in front of him. He knew he could beat it, as his blows were denting the armor. Ah, it felt so good to see the results of his youki poisoning finally being gone. Popping a clone into existence, he rammed their newly formed rasengan into the thing's chest. It ground away at the alloy only to send it blasting off into a building.

When the dust obstructing his vision cleared, the blonde paled at what he saw. Its arms were bent and broken and its chest was ripped wide open, as he had put too much 'oomph' into the attack. The falling rain only accentuated the sudden gruesome scene. Having never killed before even though it was a major part of his profession, he felt worry clench his heart at finally having crossed that line. Rushing over, he noticed sparks and wires springing out of the now exposed chest and sighed in relief. It was some sort of puppet, like what Kankuro and the deceased Sasori-teme used.

He wasn't a killer…

Yet.

Shaking himself of the morbid thoughts and wondering why his teammates were doing more fighting against each other than the robots, he ran towards the other few that were still operational. Forming more clones, he decided to just take them out so they could all head back to their new 'home'. He'd have to talk to them about their teamwork as well.

"Watch where you guys are going! I was trying to find a weakness in their armor!"

"Well maybe if someone didn't try to grab the one I'm fighting with glowy psychic darkness I would!"

"Don't blame this on me. If Cyborg hadn't rushed in then I wouldn't have had to pick out a different target."

"Aw no! You did not just say that!"

"Please! We should not be fighting each other but the metal men who attacked us!"

**Tsssst-BOOOOOOM**

They each had to brace themselves against the sudden rush of wind and deafening noise that suddenly split the air. Two blurs of orange and black slid across the ground in front of them, stabbing something into the struggling robot still buried within the remains of its brother. Metal was stripped away as oil spurted into the hazy air. Twin cries of 'Yosh!' rang out as two Naruto's gave each other a high five before disappearing back into the nether, drawing the group's attention back onto the current battle. All that remained were smoking pieces of metal and one original blonde ninja idly scratching his head as he surveyed the scene. The others were impressed at the fact that he had finished the job without assistance. The thunder and lightning had masked the sounds of their fighting, even as the falling liquid finally began tapering off into a small misty drizzle.

"Naruto, you defeated them all by yourself?" Robin questioned, returning his staff back to its small compartment. The boy grinned happily as the others walked over to him, noting each of the robots were in ragged pieces.

"Easy! I full healed now! Dumb puppets easy to break." His grin instantly disappeared as his eyes turned accusatory, as though he were judging each and every one of them. And he was. "You all fight yourselves. No teamwork. Teammates are everything. You all fail genin exams if you were ninja." He tsked disapprovingly, clicking his tongue at each of them.

Cyborg scratched at his chin, embarrassed at the fact he was being scolded by a guy still using garbled English to talk. "I've never really worked on a team before…" Raven and Starfire nodded as well, being the only others who had never had to rely on others in battle before. Naruto's shoulders rose and fell in the span of a second, telling the others he really didn't have a proper answer.

"Train." He said simply, slowly walking towards them and giving each and every one of them a meaningful stare. "We all train to learn to fight together. Those who break rules are trash, but those who…uh…break comrades are trash-er? No, no…those who, uh…yeah! Those who break rules are trash but those who forsake comrades are _trash_ trash!"

"…what?"

"I get what he's saying. Wise words, actually. Someone who breaks the rules can't be trusted, but someone who betrays their comrades are the lowest of the low. Am I right?" Naruto paused, weighing the words in his mind before nodding and smiling. Sure, he may not have said Kakashi's (Obito's) phrase right in English but at least one of them understood.

The others nodded as well, agreeing that it would be prudent to learn how to function together in a fight. Naruto was ecstatic at the fact he would finally be able to train again, having been resting this entire time sans the fights he had already been pulled into. With a cheerful cry he took five steps before halting and spinning in his place. Mass confusion was displayed across his features as he scratched at the nape of his neck, embarrassed. "Uh…which way home?"

Damn, there went the whole atmosphere from his speech. Oh well, you win some, lose some. Cyborg slapped his forehead, not believing how the kid could go from leadership material to massive stooge in the blink of an eye. Raising his arm without even looking, the mechanical boy pointed to the south-east. Naruto looked off in the distance, wiping some water out of his eyes before grinning and nodding. Soon, all of them were walking back towards the giant T in the sea, eager to switch out of their damp and dripping clothes and into something dry.

From an alleyway close to the battlefield location, a single steel grey eye cracked open as it surveyed the civilians and law enforcement individuals swarming the area. Slade uncrossed his arms, pushing off from his position leaning against the wall as he painstakingly reviewed the whole battle in his mind while uncaring of the rainwater pooling on his armor. The whole thing had been close to a farce in his opinion. The Tamaranean known as Starfire had destroyed one of them, viciously at that. But then her personality had flipped a complete 180 into a meek and submissive individual after inadvertently bringing her teammate into the action.

All others were demolished by the one he now knew as Naruto while the others bickered in the background. He was powerful, and he had training prior to his coming to Jump City. That much was certain. The others had shown minor promise in the beginning before things had degenerated into a bitch-fest.

Leisurely walking in no specific direction, the masked man decided on his course of action: continue monitoring and studying these Teen Titans. This was a delicate process and a major decision, and things had to be perfect. One slip up and his carefully concocted plans would unravel like a ball of yarn rolling down a hill, and there was no need to risk everything by rushing.

After all, good things come to those who wait.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto released a sigh, staring at his pants, headband, and jacket hanging on the clothesline strung up in the building's designated laundry room. They still had to by appliances and all that so most of the rooms were still pretty bare. They had been airing out for the last half hour and it made him realize he really needed to purchase more clothing. He was just thankful no one else was around, seeing as he was in nothing more than his boxers.

Reaching out, the blonde touched the fabric of his jacket and swished his fingers along the fabric. Slightly damp. Which meant good enough for him to put back on. Shrugging the coat back on, he left it open to continue the drying process before going back to the wonderful and exhilarating motion of watching his pants continue to dry. That is, until someone clearing their throat caught his attention.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Naruto just gave the Boy Wonder a dry glare, causing the masked teen to chuckle. He was thankful, though, that it was Robin and not Raven or Starfire. Now that would have been embarrassing. "I suppose not. Anyways, I need to speak with you."

"What do you need?"

"It's about what you said earlier, after the fight. You seem to have a good basis in team dynamics and while I hate to admit it, I do not. I've only worked with one other person before and even then the relationship was…strained at the end."

"Uh…okay?" Robin scratched at his temple, the fabric of his glove sliding over the skin and making a rough squeak in turn. It was time to stop beating around the bush.

"What I'm trying to say is do you think you can come up with teamwork drills and other things of that nature?" he finally asked. It was weird asking someone else for ways to improve themselves, especially since the teen was still in a 'flying solo' sort of mode. Yes, he was fine with having joined a team of his peers but he still occasionally had the urge to head out on a solo patrol. Hopefully Naruto could help him get rid of those cravings.

"I can try. Old teacher teach us many drills. I can help. Hmmm…early morning and no one eat breakfast. It bad for the training." :_You all really need it, too. You were all as bad as Team 7 when we first started. At least this team gets along, compared to my days as a fresh genin._: he added mentally, keeping his face neutral even though he felt the urge to scrunch his nose in a sour fashion. Nodding anyways, he formed his lips upwards into a grin.

"Thanks. We'll start tomorrow then." With nothing else to say, Robin merely gave a small tilt of his head before leaving Naruto to his thoughts. The rain had started back up, pounding against the nearby large window and giving him a serene sense of calm. Breathing deep, he let his senses flow as before beginning his planning. Let's see if he actually did learn anything from Kakashi-sensei that he could put to use in this situation…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Whhhhhhhhhhhhy are we doing this again?" The bright ball of sunshine known as Beast Boy grumbled, rubbing his aching stomach as the group stood at the base of the forest located at Jump City's northern limits. It was nine in the morning and the five of them had been waiting for nearly two hours for the lone blonde of the team to appear. They had even searched the tower to drag him outside but to they were unsuccessful in locating him.

"Because we need to learn teamwork. Every new team needs to learn how to flow with the others' strengths and weaknesses. You should know this, Beast Boy."

"Well yeah…but I more or less just took orders from Mento…but I get what you're saying."

Cyborg huffed, crossing his arms as his bionic eye scanned the grounds for any sign of Naruto. "Alright, we get it. We need to learn how to fight together, blah blah. Now where the hell is that damn ninja?" he more or less shouted, causing Raven to cover her ears at the volume.

"Please don't yell…I didn't sleep much last night…"

"Not my problem." He shot back with a glare. Due to the fact they got back late and only rested for a few hours, they were all on edge. Plus there was the fact they were told not to eat anything. It just added fuel to the fire.

A nearby rock disappeared as smoke engulfed it, causing the others to tense at the sudden intrusion. The thick mist dissipated in a swirl of wind, only to reveal Naruto crouching upon the stone with one hand outstretched in some sort of pose. In his other hand were four small bells jingling merrily in the early morning breeze. When he noticed it was silent, he cracked his eyes open from their squint to find his five friends staring at him impassively. Finally, it was actually Starfire who broke the quiet monotony.

"Friend Naruto…where have you been? It has been two Earth hours past the time you wished for us all to meet."

The boy merely scratched at his forehead underneath his headband before attaching the bells to his waist. Running a thumb across his nose he gave them a Kakashi-patented eye-smile in conjunction with a big grin. "I was lost on road of life." The others groaned, not really sure what he was talking about but feeling the need to clobber him anyways.

"Whatever the hell that means. Can we get on with this already? I'm starving." Naruto just sent a deadpanned stare towards the robotic teen before sighing and idly flicking the metal hanging from his belt. He goes through all of the trouble of thinking up ways to annoy them and this is the thanks he gets? No respect, I tell ya what.

"Fine, fine." He scratched his cheek, feeling that he could explain it better in his own language so he did just that. :_Starfire, tell them what I say. There are four bells and five of you, meaning one person will fail and not receive one. The one who fails has to go without lunch. However, if my trial is passed then the first person to snag a bell gets to be the team leader and can order around the others for a full day, me included. You have three hours, until lunchtime, to take one of my bells. Do whatever you can to try and steal one, but please don't go for a kill…I'd rather not have to fight back that harshly._:

The redhead quickly relayed the message, causing the others to form grins at the idea. Team leader and they would get to boss the others for a day? Sounded like a sweet deal to them as they began forming plans to win and steal one of the small metal balls. Naruto himself smirked, gleefully noting that the cyclop's ideas had actually worked even here in an entirely new world. Dangle a prize in front of them and all manner of teamwork is instantly dissolved. Starve them and lower their energy. Lack of sleep and their thinking, reasoning, and reaction speeds are lowered. Let's see if one of them would surprise him and actually remember the main purpose of their little training trip.

Beast Boy was bouncing on his heels, eager to begin and show the others he had what it took to lead and not follow. Shifting into a small green bird, the changeling darted forward to break the bell's wire and steal the prize but the neo-avian found himself rushing headlong into a wall. Dazed, he morphed back and grabbed his head while wishing the world would stop spinning. Two sets of scratchy voices began laughing at him as his vision cleared only to reveal another Naruto standing in front of the first, wagging his finger and clicking its tongue in a disapproving manner. "I say go? Nope!"

:_This is so much like Team 7's first training exercise it's getting damn eerie! Whatever, maybe I can trap one in the ground like what happened to Sasuke. Oooh! And the rope trap!...note to self, don't get caught in the rope trap yourself._:

"I am surprised no one of you came to steal a bell also. But since Beast Boy is eager to start…GO!" Both shinobi disappeared akin to how the original appeared, shadowed by a smokescreen that only served to block him from view. As it cleared, they were both already gone.

Robin slapped both of his cheeks hard in an attempt to both wake up and psych himself up. "Dammit! I was too tired to realize I could have used Beast Boy's blunder to try and grab one of the bells! I need to prove that I can lead the team!"

"You're not the only one gunning for first place, spiky. That prize is mine!" Both Robin and Cyborg entered a male-dominate stare down, neither willing to break off and prove they were the weaker of the two. That was, until they heard a giggling from the trees behind them. An empty spot near their location provided the evidence that the green teenager was the one laughing, already moving through the forest of trees to find the blonde. With a yelp the two rushed in after him, leaving the lone two females of the Titans alone and confused.

"But friends…is this not about the learning of team-work and the training? Why do they run away?" The words were asked aloud but Koriand'r had asked them rhetorically, not actually expecting an answer to be supplied. Naturally she jumped when Raven responded in her low monotone, causing her to spin around and grab at her chest in small fright.

"Because men are idiots and have to prove they're the best."

"Ah, Friend Raven! I had forgotten that you were there!" It may have seemed impossible, but the pale girl's frown may have deepened slightly at the remark. "I apologize. I do not understand why they must do that. On my planet, men and women all contain the same abilities and therefore only those of the royal class are superior due to their birthright."

"…it's a bit different here on Earth, Starfire. Let's go, we have to find them and remind the boys about the real purpose of the test. I'm not exactly sure what Naruto has planned but this is supposed to be about us working as a team."

"Yes! And we shall take the small metal balls that dangle from his waist and everyone shall be happy!"

"…right." At that, the two girls entered the woods. From one of the treetops a clone had listened to the whole conversation and smiled. At least they remembered the real reason they were out there. In fact, he might have to fight them first just to keep the fun going for awhile. Decisions, decisions…

The copy finally decided to dispel itself, eager to share the information with its creator. After all, he had some good ol' fashioned ninja lessons to dole out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So where do you think you are going?"

Both gasped, unaware that Naruto had even been close to them. His ability to cloak his presence was astounding since they hadn't an inkling that he was near. He was grinning heartily at the two while casually spinning a kunai by its ring, causing them to stiffen in response to any attack. The action caused him to laugh and pocket the weapon before he began walking towards the two.

"You two understand test so why you not attack?"

"I really don't want to be the leader so let the boys squabble over the bells."

"You?" the boy asked, gazing at Starfire as he tried to keep a smile under wraps. The girl had brought her hands up to her chest, clasping them together right above her breast. Shaking her head, she too gave her answer.

"I too wish not to be the one who leads."

They watched as Naruto shrugged, resting his arms behind his head as he looked up into the sky. "I use that as motivator. Do I have authority to make the decision? That up to all of us. You two remember reason for training, so I suppose you pass already. Others…not yet. But!" His grin suddenly turned feral. "Let see how you work together!"

Then he disappeared from view.

Starfire grunted as she took a punch directly to her stomach that had her fly through the air and crash against a tree. She heard him yell something about lesson number one being about taijutsu. If she was remembering right, that meant hand-to-hand combat. Standing up she watched as Raven did her best to try and land a blow on the lithe blonde. Her strikes were slow and heavy, having no formal martial arts training and the fact she was more of a medium-to-long range fighter. He easily slid through her attacks before crouching down and spinning on his heel, knocking the female's legs out from under her with a spinning low kick in tribute to his friend Rock Lee. "Konoha Reppu!" It was one of the moves he remembered him using after all of their spars.

Raven awkwardly rolled along the ground before finally halting her movement and rising to her feet. Panting lightly, she knew she was outmatched in an outright fight against him. But let's see how he did against this. Steeling her resolve the half-demon reached out with her mind and took hold of a few large rocks that littered the ground. Lifting them from their spots she threw her arms forward, the stones rocketing towards her target just as she willed.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

But it was just a feint. Starfire was currently engaging Naruto in a slugfest, him somehow blocking her powerful blows yet she could still tell it hurt him. The look on his face conveyed all she needed to know. The Tamaranean noticed the rocks and flipped over the boy, smiling to herself at the surprised look on his face. As she nimbly carted out of the way she watched as the attack struck his limbs. Raven stayed morose with only a miniscule pump of her fist but on the inside she was celebrating. '_Hell yeah I hit him!_'

But then he dispelled in a puff of smoke, causing both of them to groan as a dented log appeared in his place. "Good try but not nice enough!" they heard him shout as he appeared in the air above them. He must have jumped quite high as the wind was really tearing at his clothing and causing it to flap angrily in his descent. Both Starfire and Raven felt like cursing as they noticed his hands were together in a cross, remembering exactly what was about to take place. "Lesson two: ninjutsu! Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

As one became thirty, the girls lost their inhibitions and finally let fly. "Well, fuck."

"Oh, g'narrf!" The Naruto's simply laughed as they drew ever closer to the ground.

Meanwhile the boys were moving in circles, unable to find the target of their ire for the past hour. It wasn't helping that all three of them were griping and sniping insults at each other. Naruto had hidden himself away among the trees to silently stalk and watch them, curious as to see if they would ever stop bitching and do something about it. His prayers must have been answered because Beast Boy suddenly stiffened and threw his lanky arms skyward as he yelled out in exasperation.

"Where in the hell is he!" He began waving his arms back and forth, using the ministrations as a form of relief. His mechanical friend sighed deeply before placing his hand on the rough bark of a nearby tree trunk. Oh, how he wished he could feel the bark against his palm again. "I don't know, and my sensors can't pick him up in this forest. There's too much interference from the creatures already living in here. Man…I don't even care about grabbing one of those bells anymore. I just want foooooood!" He dropped to his knees and cried to the skies, forcing birds to take flight at the sudden intrusion of noise that roused them from their perch.

An object flew through the air, bouncing off Robin's forehead and causing him to grunt at the sudden hit. Reaching down as his gloved hand rubbed his forehead, he picked up the small rectangle wrapped in foil and carefully opened it in case it was somehow booby-trapped. To his luck, nothing exploded.

Yet.

"Huh. It's some kind of food ration bar."

"FOOD?" Beast Boy and Cyborg were at his side instantly, trying their best to pull the item out of the Boy Wonder's grip. Instinctively he moved it out of their straining reach, hugging it close to his body as he fended them off. It soon turned into yet another squabble as the three males fought over the small rations bar that Naruto 'accidently' lost while out in the woods. From the shadows the blonde just sighed and shook his head. They were going to need a lot of work. And by the looks of it, the trio was at their wits end. Maybe he should go easy on them?

Mmmm, nah.

"Alright, ENOUGH!" Robin jumped away from the two, having pulled his body out of the ragged dog pile. Holding the bar in his right hand he held it out slowly but lifted his other hand to silence the two. "Cyborg, see if there's anything wrong with the bar. Poison, sleeping drought, whatever. Just scan it first."

One of the metal teen's shoulders flipped open as a red light flicked on at the exposed base. A laser about two inches thick slowly scanned the bar as the data was processed and transferred to a digital readout upon his wrist. He remained silent for a long moment as the others kept their eyes glued to him before finally speaking up. "No…protein supplements, some carbohydrates…it's just full of ingredients to give the consumer a quick energy boost and nutrients. I didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary."

"Good." With two twists of his wrist he broke the food into three separate chunks. "Then it's good enough to eat. It might not be enough for one person but at least we'll have _something_ in our stomachs."

The other two had already snatched their pieces and wolfed them down by the time Robin had raised his to his lips. Releasing a large burp that in no way, shape, or form could have been caused by the small third of a ration bar, the changeling smacked his lips before looking at the raven-haired boy. "What about Starfire and Raven? They're most likely starving too and I haven't seen them since the whole training thing started."

Robin twitched, staying silent for a full two minutes before taking a small bite of the food and then storing the rest in his utility belt. "I'll be fine with that small piece. I'll give the rest to the girls." Naruto was impressed by that action. He had somewhat of a leader mentality, thinking of others before his own needs. But what else could he do to force them to try and work together?

He was drawing a blank at the moment.

Oh well, maybe he could just beat on them a bit. Yeah, that sounded pretty good. Oh yes. Naruto nodded to himself with a wide grin before disappearing in a plume of smoke, revealing itself to have been a clone the whole time. Perhaps the boss could come up with a way to do just that, after he was done with the two females of course.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He was…never…this strong…before…"

"Yes…but he has explained that he injured at the time of my arrival, therefore weaker than what he is used to."

"You never get a bell at this rate!"

Raven was panting, winded from the long workout she had been put through. Starfire was taking in larger breaths than she normally did but other than that she was still her energetic, bubbly self. And Naruto…Naruto looked like he had simply been lounging around the whole time. It nearly made him laugh at the difference in stamina between the two of them and, of course, himself. The redhead would have made a fine kunoichi with some training but the hanyou reminded him of academy-days Sakura. Ouch.

The two had taken all that he flung at them and were still on their feet. He had to admit he was impressed. Even if they weren't able to take a bell, he was still fine with passing them for teamwork. They moved together and watched each other's backs. Maybe it was because he pretty much told them the purpose but he was willing to go with that.

Starfire stood up straight, stretching out her back as she kept her eyes glued on the blonde. "Friend Raven, do you have anymore of the plans?" Raven twitched her fingers, taking deep yet calming breaths to slow her heart rate and blood coursing through her circulatory system.

"Maybe…can you keep him busy for a moment?"

"I shall try."

"Good."

The pale girl's eyes glowed an eerie black as Starfire rocketed towards him with her own eyes and fists growing bright green. Raven willed her energy to heed her call one more time as she threaded the thin miasma around the boy's belt and gave a sharp tug. Feeling the shift in his pants the ninja tried to fight back as he fought off the alien in tandem but it was in vain. Two bells were plucked free and floated into the half-demon's waiting hands. Starfire couldn't wipe the grin off of her face as Raven casually handed her one of the prizes.

"I think we win this fight, Naruto." They watched as the boy's features turned unreadable and his lip quivered in an unidentifiable emotion. It made them think they had actually done something wrong but in actuality he was just trying to hide his joy. The dam finally burst as he just threw back his head and laughed, causing the females to release a silent sigh in relief.

"Good job. I am glad you grabbed the bells for both of you. But Karasu, why did you not pick bells in the beginning and not fight me?"

Raven blinked, remembering that karasu meant both raven and crow followed by the weight that was behind his simple sentence. Why hadn't she just used her telekinesis to take the bells from his belt right from the start? It would have been so much easier and she wouldn't be worn out from their spar. Well shit. The blonde snorted as he watched Raven slap her forehead loudly, cursing her own short-sided idiocy.

"There was another easy way to take bells. Want to know?" Both girls just nodded, wondering what it could possibly be. The boy moved closer and motioned for them to lean in for his whisper. Curious, they followed his lead as he took one more serious look around lowering his voice and nearly breathing in their ears. "Could have asked for bells."

"…WHAT?"

He had to grab his ears as both Starfire and Raven screeched, not believing that simply asking for one of the metal balls would have sufficed. One of the nearby trees exploded as the demonic female lost control of her power, causing her to blush in embarrassment and look away to hide her reddened features. The Tamaranean seemed to recover quicker than her fellow girl as she blinked and smiled, taking it all in stride after the initial shock wore off. "Oh, Friend Naruto, you are truly devious. Much like when the Krona'r tricked the Qwob into glebnx!" She began to laugh, wiping at her eyes as tears of joy leaked out.

The others just mirrored her laughter with confused chuckles, feeling it rude to not join in. Naruto suddenly stiffened as the memories of his clone integrated into his own, causing him to give a mild shake of his head to clear the cobwebs. The two looked at him in concern as he just waved them off, having dealt with much worse feedback before. One meager clone was nothing.

Three minutes later the foliage rustled and split only to reveal the three other males of the group, dirty and tired from their wonderful vacation through the trees. Beast Boy raised one arm skyward before pointing it directly at the blonde with his pointer finger shaking menacingly…well, in his opinion anyway. It looked like they had run into plenty of his traps, including the rope trap. Sucks for them but he was unrepentant.

"Hah…hah…found you! We heard the yell!"

"Get ready for an ass kicking I'm just dying to give you! Then I'll take one of your damn bells!"

Naruto just smiled softly before gesturing over to the girls, specifically their hands. As if on cue they both shook their hands, getting light jingles in return. The look on Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy's faces was priceless. "You all late. But have two bells left." Raven and Starfire both began hovering above the area as Naruto made a come hither motion with his fingers. The boys instantly understood and rushed him, trying to overpower him with the sheer movement of their assault.

All he did was kawamiri with Robin and sat back to watch the fireworks.

This charade continued for ten whole minutes as he played games with the trio while the girls sat back and watched until Robin finally nicked one of the cords holding a bell in place and sent it rolling against the ground. Nobody moved for what seemed like an eternity before they were all drawn into a dogpile, complete with large dust cloud and random limbs popping out occasionally as the tussle continued. It most likely would have ended sooner if not for the fact Naruto had joined them.

More and more time passed and the obscurants finally cleared to reveal all four of them sitting on the ground, panting up a storm after the recent excursion. But to two of their delights, both Robin and even Cyborg held up a bell. The metal gleaming in the midday sun brought joy to the both of them but the changeling felt jealousy and sadness. His elongated ears drooped as his gaze dropped to the ground, feeling rejection at the fact he was now the only one without a bell and therefore had to skip lunch. And damn it all, he was starving.

"The test is over. Four have bells and one does not. Sorry Beast Boy, but you will not have lunch today." Naruto lowered his voice, trying to sound solemn and detached. It seemed to work as the green boy's ears drooped even further, nearly touching the edges of his chin.

Robin's fingertips lightly brushed the uppermost edge of his belt before he sighed and opened the pouch. Retrieving the portion of the ration bar from before, he tossed his bell to Beast Boy who stared at the small bauble in his hands in shock.

Then his head shot up to look at Robin.

Back to the bell.

To Robin.

Bell.

This continued for some time until Cyborg finally stopped him before his neck broke off at its hinge. Confused, the discolored teen tried to speak but a raised hand from his friend stopped him. "I know what you're going to say, and it's fine. I still have that food piece from before. I'll just eat that and wait until dinner to get a meal. Besides, I know you're starving a lot more than I am…seriously, I just mentioned the word food and you started drooling."

"Bwaaah?" He rubbed the back of his hand along his chin, barely grimacing as it came back pretty much soaked with saliva. Licking his lips the boy nodded and gave a small 'thanks'. Naruto was immediately there, staring down Robin with his eyes shadowed by his hair. "Is that what you want?"

"Umm…yes?" Robin felt like he may have done something wrong in the blonde's eyes but he himself thought it was alright. It wasn't like he could just go out later and get something to eat when Naruto wasn't looking.

"Good!"

"…what?"

"You remembered real reason to training! Teamwork! That how Starfire and Karasu passed. By giving up bell you made sure your friend was taken care of."

The masked male scratched at the back of his head, clearly just now remembering it was some sort of group bonding exercise. "Ah…yep! That's exactly it." He laughed awkwardly, though only Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"While it still shaky at best, in my opinion you best shot at being leader. Guys?"

"Like I said before, I don't care to be the leader." Raven quipped, hovering a foot off of the ground in a cross-legged position. "It would be too much of a hassle and I'm fine with being support." Naruto snickered lightly, almost waiting for her to call the whole deal troublesome.

"I too wish to not be the leader. I would have less time to learn about Earth if my days are spent doing 'the leading'." You can most likely guess who that was. Beast Boy was next, as he once again looked at the bell before shrugging his shoulders and giving a small grin.

"I was more focused on trying to get a bell and lunch, and completely forgot the real reason why we were out here. I guess I'm not really mature enough to try and take on something as big as leading a group."

"That was…actually pretty mature. That was impressive, Beast Boy." The teen had the decency to blush at Raven's compliment before the sound of an animal roaring caused him to groan and fall flat on his face.

"So…hungry…"

"I take back what I said."

Cyborg made a noise that was halfway between a growl and a sigh he smiled and shook his head. "Whatever, go ahead. I get to be second in command though." His lips morphed into a smirk as Robin clapped a hand on his shoulder. No one else saw anything wrong with that and when they questioned Naruto he mentioned he didn't feel like trying to lead either. He was a fighter, plain and simple, and did his best thinking while in battle. If need be he'd take over then.

"One more thing..." The four who held bells suddenly found themselves wide-eyed in shock as the cold touch of steel gently skimmed their necks. The metal balls had vanished from their hands only to reveal they had been henged clones the whole time. With a twitch of his hand he could kill every single one of them if he so chose. "Remember that things may not be what it seems. Never lower guard unless certain there is no more danger." With a quick nod the four copies dispelled and Naruto was all smiles again. It was quite the life lesson, one he hoped they would never forget.

They noticed that the blonde had grown silent and his eyes were rather unfocused. Concerned, they tried to snap him out of it only to watch as his own stomach grumbled and caused him to snort. "Sorry, thinking. Let's eat first. Everyone." he added, glancing over at Robin. "But then…we do more drills!"

"What! Why?"

"My senseis not teach much except for Pa toad. If we want to get better then we practice more. Especially now that we have leader to give orders."

Beast Boy was suddenly on his feet, both arms crossed in front of his chest as he created a large X with the limbs. "Whoa, whoa. Hold up. If your teachers didn't teach you much then how in the hell are you so strong?"

"Ninja!" He replied good-naturedly. "I also just awesome. I train constantly and work hard."

"That's great advice we can all go by. If we continue training and honing our individual skills then we can cover the weaknesses of the others and become a functioning team that Jump City can be proud of." Robin spoke with the air of a commander, drawing smiles from the others. It was good to see him taking to his role so quickly.

"But now, food!" Naruto added, causing the others to laugh.

This schedule would continue on for days to come, further cementing their trust in each other as the Teen Titans became well known throughout the city.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: This would have been out a whole lot sooner if not for Gears of War 3 finally coming out and hot damn, my friends and I are constantly playing it. Although I'm tired of getting stuck in matches where my teammates have no idea how to play. THE MATCH RULES ARE KING OF THE HILL! NOT STAND AROUND AND GET SHOT WHILE I'M THE ONLY ONE CAPTURING THE DAMN RING! GAH! Anyways, maybe I'll see one of you online sometime. Just watch out for the bad players. Grr…_

_Also I have the pairings for Power of the Planet. It's just Tifa with one-sided Yuffie. I originally planned for those two but I wanted to see what the readers thought. The Yuffie and Naruto relationship will be along the lines of Ryu and Sakura from Street Fighter. She will want to learn from him and the growing hero worship will turn into a super crush, leading to awkwardness and when I finally get there, possible craziness in Wutai._

_For those who don't know, a new poll is up. See, a year or so ago I came up with a manga/comic idea involving the Christian archangels and armored suits. If it was already thought up before…shit. If not then you better damn well ask me if you wish to borrow part of it. Anyways I came up with three different story ideas that would all use the armor idea._

_The first is where an OC pretty much becomes family to Naruto. I know it's been done plenty of times but it's what I came up with. The OC will have a bloodline involving zanpakuto and some shinigami powers. I don't want to give too much away but it will have OCxTayuya and Narutox? Unsure of the pairing for the blonde, but most likely not Hinata. I love the lass but there's so much of that pairing it's almost as bad as NarutoxSasuke. He will also hold an irrational hatred of Orochimaru. There will also be one Metal Gear Solid reference._

_The second is a Naruto/Fairy Tail. I deleted The Lucky Sage because truthfully it was crap. You readers may have enjoyed it but to me it was a failure. I was rushing everything and trying to get farther into the storyline while losing control of the relationship specs. I don't do large harems as it gets out of hand, as what happened in that story. RosarioShinigami is an exception as well; there's only three for Ichigo and really he'll most likely only be with two of them. ANYWAYS the new story would also involve my OC with a similar armor power and Naruto with magic. I'm thinking OCxMirajane or Cana, and NarutoxLevy or Lucy. No Erza, as she's the most used in the crossovers._

_Lastly, a Naruto/Bleach. An actual crossover this time, not just with some elements like the first idea. Either before or after the Rescue Rukia arc, Naruto and Jiraiya would wind up in Karakura during his training journey and due to an accident with a hollow he has to be forced into a spiritual shinigami body just like Ichigo. A living soul reaper. Things will switch between Japan and Konoha but won't be stuck in one specific area, and most likely NarutoxOrihime. The other Bleach/Naruto story I had planned I have given up on for now seeing as I can't piece the ideas together. Maybe sometime in the future._

_On another note, I've written part of the Naruto/Haruhi Suzumiya crossover idea but I keep gaining new ideas. Urg. And speaking of Street Fighter I actually have a Naruto/Street Fighter idea where Naruto is the grandson of Akuma and gets stuck with the dark Hadou because of his family and the Kyuubi's influence. I'm thinking maybe NarutoxIbuki? Possible Sakura (SF version)…or maybe she'll be just an older sister type. Who knows yet._

_Lastly. People, people, people…please, there is a difference. Rouge is a color. Rogue is a thief or stealthy sonofabitch. It's weird reading a sentence about a guy who hides in the shadows and backstabs people and yet because of one misspelling I'm like 'A dark pinkish-red just killed someone?' And barely/ barley, their/there/they're…_

_Phew, anyways…I'll do my best to update my stories with school going on. Seriously, why the hell do I have group projects in college? It's too damn hard to get together when everyone else is busy too dammit. Whatever, I'm off to work on my Police Function project on the CIA. Oh yeah…_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Nein! Ich keine eigenen Naruto oder Teen Titans! In other words, I don't own either of them. Got it memorized?

**Chapter 3:**

:9 Days Later:

The sun peeked over the morning clouds, shedding rays of light across the large glass windows of the nearly finished Titan's Tower. A body floated lazily over a round, purple-covered bed, bobbing slowly in time with every intake of breath. Green eyes blinked open sleepily as the redheaded Tamaranean drifted down to her mattress. Her race was known to switch between hovering and non-hovering in their sleep, depending on their moods before they finally drifted off.

Upon changing out of her pajamas and getting ready for the day, the peppy alien skipped out of her room and moved down the hallway. Nothing major had happened since the day Naruto first drilled them on teamwork and Robin was made the honorary leader of their new team. Mostly, they had continued work on the building, training, teaching the blonde ninja English, and continuing getting used to each others presences.

Having friends was still a foreign concept to Starfire and it still pushed her out of her comfort zone in a good way. The only ones ever close to her was her family back on Tamaran, so having persons who were not related to her _and_ who she could confide in and just be normal with was such a new-fangled thrill that set her heart aflutter with joy.

Her hair flipped out behind her as she passed a doorway where something caught her attention. The portal to the other room was partially cracked open, allowing light to filter in and give a small amount of illumination in the still darkened hallway. Things were still settling down and the lay of the land was still being memorized, so she had to peer at the metal to see who occupied said room. This one had a few markings engraved into it that were explained to be 'khan-gee', with a circular swirl emblem stenciled underneath. That right there immediately told the female who slept in there.

Being the ever innocent and curious girl she was, Starfire knocked to see if her blonde friend was awake. Then she knocked again, this time a bit louder. When the third round of knocks still went unanswered, that either meant he was already gone or still asleep. It wouldn't hurt to take a quick look, right? The door hissed as she opened it fully, letting the girl move in and see. What she came upon caused her to drop into a fit of giggles.

There was Naruto in the middle of his floor, lying in a sea of scattered papers with a large opened scroll at his feet with a half painted seal on the paper. The boy was mumbling to himself about something indecipherable as his hair spilled into his closed eyes. His headband was placed carefully on the nightstand near his bed next to a small bedding area where the slug summon was fast asleep.

His room wasn't very exciting, compared to everyone else. He had tried to replicate his old abode back in Konoha to the best of his ability but with upgrades. The bed was in the corner was larger than his old one. Much, much comfier too. A hardwood floor covered the room but thankfully these boards weren't rotten and moldy. There wasn't too much, as he didn't have many belongings yet but that was liable to change if he ever came across something he wanted. He had a bigger closet too, though it was only filled with copies of his current attire plus his missing sage coat. He only had the one outfit when he came to this world, so they had found a designer that hadn't turned them away after he made his request. Even here, the people seemed to have some sort of diss against the almighty orange. However, he had to promise to buy some sets of normal clothes sometime in the future.

Robin was dressed like a traffic light (now that he knew what those were) and nobody batted an eye. Seriously, what the hell?

Luckily he was able to paint his walls orange, but it was a much darker shade than he would have gone with. He had originally went with the same hue as his jacket but when the light from outside touched it, the magnified rays had instantly blinded everyone who had been in the room to see the finished product. Raven, surprisingly again, was the one who had given the suggestion to tone it down instead of the alternative of keeping his blinds closed forever. He had spun her around happily upon learning the fact he would be able to at least keep his favorite color. She had fidgeted and awkwardly patted him on the back, giving him a quick squeeze before she had lost her grip because Star had suddenly joined in, stating how Raven had given yet another 'wondrous suggestion'. That caused the goth-like girl to wriggle free and escape for fear of her bones.

But his wasn't the only unique room in the tower.

Cyborg's had been filled to the brim with electronics and other paraphernalia that would ensue his mechanical parts were kept at 100% efficiency, with metallic walls and video equipment. It was kept darker than the others, and the bed was a flat steel slab for him to sleep on and power down. There _was_ some semblance of a teenager's life, what with the sports posters hung on the bare walls. Reminders of his former life, most likely.

Beast Boy's was already a complete mess, with clothing and other items already strewn about haphazardly. The boy's color scheme banked on shades of green (surprising), darker for the carpet and lighter on the walls. He himself had a bunk-bed up against the wall. Why? They weren't sure. He seemed to alternate between mattresses, leaving behind a messy blanket on the unfilled level as he flailed around under his sheets. Out of the six roommates, his would indeed be classified as the 'normal' teenager's room.

Koriand'r's room was naturally painted purple, being her own favorite shade of the color spectrum. Her bed was smack dab in the center and rather clean. Her clothing was tucked away neatly in her dressers and closet. Lush violet carpeting sat underneath their feet, almost making you want to relax amongst it and sleep. It too was sort of bare compared to the others, seeing as she too did not have much to her name at the moment. But once they found time to travel to the earthling's 'The Mall', she hoped to find new items to display in her room.

Heavy colors, lots of books, and 'dark' objects filled up Raven's space, giving her a sense of security among her many tomes and shadows. She had barely given it a second thought when she moved out of her dingy little apartment, instantly transporting her personal effects through her soul self's portal and into her new living area. She had allowed her friends entry one time to see what it was like before abruptly kicking them all out, nervous that they would accidentally destroy something or ruin one of her collectible books.

Robin's room was immaculate, a simple bed in the corner and his belongings tucked away neatly. The rest of his personal space was filled with crime-fighting gadgets and items that would help him with said crime-fighting, as well as things to keep his mind and body sharp. Other than that, there was not much to tell. It looked like the office of someone who only lived to do their job.

Finally finishing her smattering of laughter, Starfire kneeled at Naruto's side and gently shook him by the shoulders. The snoozing male only snorted and grunted before rolling over, causing Starfire to increase the pace of her shaking. _Finally_ he broke from his sleep, yawning widely as he sat up lethargically and blinked away the 'sand' left in his eyes. Noticing the sun had risen without him the shinobi stretched and smacked his lips before fully realizing he wasn't actually alone anymore within his personal dwelling, not counting Katsuya.

"Oh…morning, Star-chan…or, Kori-chan. I forgot which you preferred…so uh, why are you in my room?" That was another thing that had continued increasing over the week; his grasp of the new language. There was only the occasional mishap whenever he became frustrated. He even began calling the two females of their group with honorifics, having felt that he had grown close enough to them to signify such a thing. Raven was much more introverted than the ever-bubbly Starfire though, but she exuded an odd calmness when around him. She felt…similar, if that was somehow possible, but she appeared fine with being labeled as such.

"Using either form of my name is acceptable as they both are the same but I feel a fondness for the Tamaranean pronunciation. It, how you would say…'flips off the tongue'?" He paused and then shrugged, just as uncertain as she was. It sounded familiar but with her wording had confused him a bit. Oh well. "I also apologize, as I noticed your door was open and I believed that you were still asleep. So I wished to wake you and have you join me on such a glorious morning!"

Naruto chuckled at the redhead's exuberance and scratched his chin, gathering up his stray papers and filing them on his table. It was then he noticed one glued to his cheek and pulled it off with a scowl which caused his companion to giggle mirthfully. She had kept that information to herself, wanting to see how long it took before he finally noticed. As her delicate laughter reached his ears, he peeked over his side to give her a baleful glare that did nothing to remove the amusement from her jade eyes.

"Ha ha. Hilarious." He whisked away to roll up the one remaining item, gladdened to see the ink had set while he slept and the peruse with his finger came away clean. A presence above and behind his shoulder alerted him to the curious hovering of Starfire as she tried to make heads or tails of the squiggles down below.

"If I may, what has kept you from sleeping soundly in the bed of comfort?" He continued without pause, metal affixing to metal as he bound the rather large roll of parchment tightly together and looping the hanging cord around its middle.

"It took me forever before I was able to find enough materials to recreate a battle scroll that let me summon clones from over long distances. I lost it in a battle before, uh, you showed up. It just takes time recreating the seals and I don't have any help this time so I need to be twice as careful." Katsuya groaned lightly as Naruto moved over and gently prodded her awake. The little gastropod yawned and blinked her eye stalks (at least that's what it seemed like) before slithering out of her bedding and up the jinchuriki's arm. "Hey, I gotta shower and all that so I'll see you downstairs?"

She nodded and accepted the slug, setting the mini-summon on her shoulder and finding the strength not to break down in laughter at the feather-light touches of the animal's 'foot' muscles as they contracted. "Yes! And then we will meet with the others and do 'the hanging out' and other wonderful situations!" Naruto merely chuckled as Starfire flew out his door and he sealed it with a soft hiss.

Koriand'r was always a bundle of joy, eager to learn and make the others feel appreciated. It was a far cry from the personality when they first met. She sort of reminded the blonde of himself except, y'know, an attractive female. Not that either of those were bad things. Shaking his head at his errant thoughts, the boy tugged off his jacket and moved to freshen up for yet another new dawn.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Titans basked in the comfortable silence, each eating their morning meal as they sat in the odd combination of their kitchen/entertainment room/operations. Robin released a barely audible sigh into his cereal, finally growing bored of the hush amongst teammates. "So what's everyone's plans for the day?"

"I'm going to relax. That last training session kicked my ass…" Beast Boy mumbled out, his eyes still closed due to lethargy. The green teen tried to moved a muscle but his lips morphed into a frown when the arm failed to meet his instructions and instead wobbled like a thin piece of rubber.

"I guess I'll finish working on the tower. It's nearly finished and I have a few kinks to work out of the security systems before they're at one hundred percent." Robin gave a curt nod to Cyborg, agreeing with the other male's decision.

"I'll stay and assist you. The criminals in this city have been rather quiet lately and I don't like it. Here, I can pinpoint their location quicker once it's up and running." Cyborg tilted his head, finding truth in the martial artist's sentence. Plus, Robin was the only other technologically-minded person of his new group of friends and they should be able to finish much sooner that way. The only problem was that it was _Robin_. Lately the boy had been taking his new leadership position way too seriously and taking it out on the others when a mistake was made. Yes, the team was getting better…but his constant criticism was already wearing on the larger teenager's nerves. It didn't help that he always had a short temper, anyways.

When the three boys turned to look at the other remaining three for their opinions, Raven only shrugged in response. Starfire fidgeted slightly before shrugging quickly as well but the tenseness was broken by the audible gulp provided by Naruto as he finished draining his breakfast bowl of its remaining milk.

"Ah…I need more ink so I suppose I'll go to that bookstore Kara-chan showed us the other day."

"I'll go too."

All five stopped and looked at Raven, or Kara-chan or Karasu-chan as Naruto would say, as she realized the extent of her sudden outburst and silently cursed to herself as a heat darkened her cheeks. Sinking slightly in her seat, the hanyou willed herself to calm and once again become in control. A quick dismissive gesture with her hand led to her trying to save face.

"Because, I want to see if they have received any new books. I've been waiting for some time and it slipped my mind until Naruto mentioned it." Said blonde grinned and nodded, earning a small smile in return from the ever-apathetic girl. While her words were not actually a lie, she was more interested as to why the enigma of their group needed ink.

Starfire watched the exchange and felt an oddness twinge inside her chest that caused her a small deal of confusion, which led to her current fidgeting of her fingers. Deciding she did not want to be left out, the alien princess spoke up with a shy look gracing her face. "Um, may I too join in on the adventure to the store of books? Friend Raven and I will also be able to partake of 'The Girl Time' that I have learned about here on Earth." Raven merely raised a slender violet eyebrow but kept any opinion to herself, simply nodding at the girl's request as she found it odd but not an annoyance.

The redhead squealed and took to floating over the table, cheering joyfully and causing the purplenette to sigh and slap her forehead in frustration. Perhaps she had spoken too soon…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I am so excited! I cannot wait for the fun and joy to begin!" Starfire exclaimed as she flew over the water located between their new home and the neighboring city. Raven was right next to her, moving along as her pointed hood once again shadowed her face. A few feet below the two pretty females, Naruto walked casually with his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets as he moved along the azure watery surface. Noticing the sudden presences on both of his sides as the duo descended, it made him open his eyes to see.

"I've been meaning to ask you…what sort of energy do you use to perform your…ninja techniques, Naruto?" Raven asked. This was the first time the two were alone (mostly) and she finally had the time to ask the questions that had been plaguing her thoughts ever since they first met. Naruto only responded with a strange look as though the girl should already know such a fact.

"It's chakra. What else would it be?" he answered as his feet transitioned from water to sand and he cut the flow of energy to his soles. Shock exploded upon Raven's face as the girls landed and began walking at his sides. The only telling signs of her astonishment were the widening of her eyes and how her mouth had fallen open, but even they weren't that apparent.

"You…know about chakras?"

"Of course. It's the mixture of physical and spiritual energy that allows us to use our techniques. If you run out, you enter exhaustion and then death if it's bad enough. Everyone knows that since it's drilled into our heads at the academy. Why are you so surprised?" He looked over to see both girls looking at him with rapt attention, nearly locking his legs and causing him to falter. "…you don't know? Then what do you use?"

"Ultraviolet radiation is absorbed from your planet's sun through my skin."

"I use my body's seven chakras to balance my flow of energy. I have to remain calm at all times or I'll lose control."

Starfire's explanation was a bit crazy but also explained why she seemed to literally glow sometimes but Raven's just blew his mind. Seven? _Seven?_ With such a multitude of different energies running through her tenketsu it was mind-boggling that the poor woman hadn't exploded yet from such a high energy backlash. No wonder she meditated so much…one slip up and she could very well take out the whole tower or worse.

"SEVEN? THAT'S INSANE!" The youki-user halted at his outburst and cocked her head to the side before taking a finger and pointing at the top of her covered head and moving steadily downward at certain intervals.

"Crown, brow, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root chakra." She hesitated a bit upon pointing at her chest and groin but continued on without missing a beat. It was a bit odd having them look at her intently in such private areas but it wasn't like they were ogling her body. "Each resembles a vortex that controls the flow of energy throughout the entirety of our bodies."

"Wow…really? It sure is different here and yet almost the same. So the seven are actually just focal points but it's all the same type of energy. I thought you meant you had seven separate energies in you and honestly I had no idea how you were still alive without blowing up." They were like the tenketsu of his own world. Raven shook her head but made an amused noise all the same.

"No. I think I'd be in trouble then. I don't believe there are that many anyways."

Naruto hummed and began ticking off his fingers as the trio continued on their path. "Let's see: normal chakra, nature chakra, sage chakra which is a mix of normal and nature, curse-mark chakra, medical chakra…oh right. Demon chakra too, or youki I guess it's called." He mumbled a bit at the end there but even then Raven felt herself stiffen. Her fists bunched up the ends of her cloak and it took the squashing of all emotion to ensure nothing nearby was crushed by her blackened power.

She hated it, _full on, rage-induced despising that bubbled deep within her breast_, the fact that her powers were from the result of a demon and yet even then she could only file such feelings away because of the terrible blood flowing through her veins. However…at least she was still allowed the small comfort of feeling any emotion without repercussion but even then it was miniscule. The mention of youki brought another question to the forefront of her mind as her composed shell returned and allowed her to act without consequence. Two in fact, and it would allow her to change the subject in her favor.

"A-anyways, I have a few more questions. On the day that Starfire landed here on Earth I noticed you absorb the latent energy of the atmosphere. Was that the nature chakra you just mentioned?" He stopped and scratched his head before snapping his fingers and turning left at the crosswalk.

"Yup. I take it in and mix it with my own natural chakra but I have to do it without any mistakes. Failure means being turned into a petrified toad and dying so I have to have precise control." Interesting. His power too came with dire consequences. Perhaps he could show her some tricks to help contain her own? It gave a small fluttering of hope inside of Raven's heart but she dared not ask it yet. Better to keep such a happy feeling for as long as she could.

And now for the problem that nipped away at her psyche. Best for last? Or the one that scared her the most? Wetting her lips, she decided to just dive headlong and hope he didn't grow angry at her inquiry. "Last question…it's something I noticed upon growing familiar with your natural aura. What is that darker, fouler energy I can feel buried inside of you?"

She immediately regretted her course of action. The sharp inhale of breath. A small tremble of his arm. Even the small bead of sweat that escaped from the width of his headband showed the bodysuit-clad girl she had just intruded on something very, very personal. His eyes sought hers out in surprise and the apprehension and nervousness conveyed within those blue orbs were frighteningly familiar. He forced a chuckle from his diaphragm and Raven mirrored him, even as he masked his sudden stiffness and turned to grab the door of a nearby building. To her obvious surprise, the three of them had made it to the bookstore without her even remembering the journey. All her focus had been on unraveling the mystery of the blonde shinobi.

Naruto pulled open the faded wooden door and looked back at his two female companions, one worried by his sudden oddness and the other more intrigued than she had been before. "O-oh, look! We're here! Well, I better go and get my stuff so you two can do your girl stuff or whatever. See you in a bit!" The barred click of the entrance-way sounded surprisingly loud even with the background din generated by the city. Raven could nearly see the negative emotions trailing through the air and the female knew it was better to just let it go. There was something dark in his past that deemed such a reaction, and it was something Raven knew much better than she would have liked.

"That was…not normal, yes?"

"Yes, Starfire. That was not normal. He did not like the question so it would be better if we all just dropped it and not bug Naruto about it."

"How would I 'drop it' if there is nothing in my hands for me to release? My lark't are empty." She spread her palms towards Raven to help prove her point.

"…I meant, do not ask him about it because it makes Naruto uncomfortable." she muttered with a sigh. Now she finally understood, nodding her assent before the duo moved inside. It was darker than normal in the interior and held a part-gloomy atmosphere that added to its pedigree of catering towards the darker half of the community. Starfire was totally out of her element here. Raven immediately moved off to the supernatural section, leaving the Tamaranean to wander around the rows of shelves on her own.

English lettering was still a foreign concept to her as her skin-to-skin assimilation only allowed for the ability to comprehend and speak a language. Reading and writing still had to be learned on her own time, as attested to both her and Naruto working on that together when time allowed. Passing by a heavily-laden bookshelf near the back, she came upon said blonde hunched over a row of shelves suspended on the wall over an ornate desk.

Fingers delicately lifted up different sizes of glass bottles filled with dark liquid, occasionally giving them a small shake or squinted stare. "Do you require assistance, Friend Naruto?" Without turning he crooked a finger and gave her the 'come here' gesture to which she complied.

"You have any idea which of these has the best quality?"

"I apologize, for I do not." He pursed his lips and shrugged before grabbing two separate containers and walking away with Starfire at his side. They found Raven sitting in a plush chair near the front with a new novel nestled in her hands as her eyes darted over page after page. Two energy signatures broke her from her intense reading and the two arms now hovering over the top of her head gave the female a reason look up in question after memorizing the page number and gently closing the cover.

"Yes?" she asked in her preferred state of monotone.

"Kara-chaaaan, which of these do you think has the best quality? I can't read it but I figure it's at least one of these." He handed them to her as she reached up, letting the tome rest on top of her exposed thighs. After half a minute she gave her answer, handing the smaller of the two bottles back to her friends.

"This one."

"That one? Dang, I was hoping it was the other. I'll have to buy a bunch then before I add the other ingredients."

"What else do you add?"

"Blood." he chirped, plucking the second inkwell out of Raven's now lax grip and totally ignoring their unnerved looks at how he said it so nonchalantly. When he returned there were now five full bottles and three left empty for when he started the mixing. "Can you believe it? They had bird feathers back there and people are supposed to use them to write. Why the hell would I do that when a pen or paintbrush would work?" He could only shake his head and chuckle. "So weird."

The three paid for their items rather quickly as Raven only had one new book in her possession and Starfire had nothing. Stepping outside, he hefted the bag and shook it lightly before tsking at the frail plastic. "I need to make some sealing scrolls too…hey, you want me to take that back for you? I figure you and Kori-chan are going to do something and this way you don't have to lug it around." Raven paused and considered his gesture for a moment before extending her arms and handing it over.

"Keep it for now. Don't go into my room. I'll collect it from you later." The ninja nodded and placed it inside the bag before snapping off an exaggerated salute. After saying his goodbyes he took off at moderate pace so as to not jostle the glass nestled within. As he passed out of sight, Starfire turned to her remaining friend and once again found her fingers poking together, causing a few of the passerbyers to sigh happily at how cute she was.

"Friend Raven…may we…go to the mall of shopping?"

"…fine."

Raven immediately regretted it when the pretty redhead once again squeaked in unbridled happiness and levitated, circling the gloomy pale girl once before grabbing her by the arm and dragging her away. Perhaps she should have just returned to the tower instead.

Who knows what horrors Starfire would subject her to?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Whaddya think, huh? I tried experimenting with the seals a bit but when it's finished _you_ should be able to summon my clones in case I'm unable to. It was attuned to toads before."

"Most impressive. I was unaware you knew so much about fuinjutsu, Naruto-san." Naruto only chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, blushing lightly under her praise.

"Well, Ero-sennin was one of the best and I did pick a few things up. Plus there was Pa who originally helped me shape the seal for my kage bunshin. It wasn't too hard, really. You just channel your chakra into the seal and it retrieves one clone at a time. But it has a function we weren't able to test because of Pein."

The slug twitched her eye stalks to look up at the shinobi. "And that would be?"

"See this outer shell?" he asked, tracing a finger along the outer edge. "It was Fukasaku's idea. It blends in with the others but has an entirely different purpose. Put chakra in the center and poof, a clone appears. But if you channel your chakra into the outer shell, well…you'll be able to summon me personally. I can choose to let it happen or not though, like with a reverse summoning."

"Very impressive. By chance, could you create one that summons me? It could come in handy in case someone needed my healing technique and I was not there."

"That's a great idea. Let me finish this one and whip up some sealing scrolls and I'll see what I can do." A kunai was withdrawn and one of the empty vials grabbed. With practiced ease he cut his palm and allowed the viscous liquid to drip in before he wiped both the blade and hand clean and let the wound heal up. What came next was the annoying part; the ratio. Mixing his blood into the ink, his own chakra would fuse with the black fluid and would be the catalyst that actually allowed the seal to work. While the precise markings were of course needed to create whichever seal was wanted, without the influx of chakra it was just that. A bunch of markings.

Plus this was high quality…he hoped. That was what Raven and the clerk had said…but mistakes _could_ happen. Better to just get it ready and luckily the sealing scrolls could be his test material. When enough blood was withdrawn and placed in the other bottle, Naruto slowly stirred it with his brush while idly going over the brushstrokes needed. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long.

**VREEEET! VREEEET! VREEEET!**

…the hell was that?

Luckily when he had jumped in shock, nothing had spilled because he would have been so fucking pissed. He took a few seconds to at least screw the caps back on before dashing out of his room to find out what had caused the loud and annoying disturbance. Katsuya only watched him go before inching back towards her bed and shoving her head underneath the pillows. It was so loud!

"Why is the tower screeching at me?" the blonde frantically shouted as he rushed into the operations room. Not only was that ungodly sound grating at his ears but lights situated in every hallway and room were flashing red and totally messing with his vision. Luckily by the time he slid to a halt in front of the large tv screen, Robin had pressed a button (at least that's what Naruto thought he did) and a sense of normalcy returned to the building. The slight ringing in his ears brought a scowl to his face, however.

Beast Boy was already there, standing next to Robin and giving him a dry yet tired glare. "You could've at least woken me up first in an normal way before I nearly had a heart attack." the green male grumbled at the masked hero before turning towards the blonde. "I'm not the only one you scared the crap out of."

"Sorry. Cyborg went to deliver our tower's alert frequency to the city's law enforcement while simultaneously testing out our warning system. It looks like it worked perfectly." Both boys looked at Robin with deadpan stares, getting him to cough awkwardly into his fist and look away. "Perhaps I should have given out a warning…"

"Ya think?"

"Anyways…since the alert worked correctly then that means we were able to distinguish it from the others. And that means…this should work as well." A few quick keystrokes into the wall mounted keyboard terminal and suddenly all three of them felt their communicators begin to release a small set of sharp musical notes and warm slightly. As they withdrew them from where they were kept, Beast Boy couldn't help but preach about the Boy Wonder's accomplishment.

"Wow. That sure was fast. You only barely finished typing in…whatever it was and then the alert shows up on our communicators? And it even comes with a catchy tune! Was that supposed to do that?"

"Yes…but not like it did. This is real. We have an actual call!"

"Seriously? Where?"

The screens of their gadgets all changed from the black background with a white T into a grid map of the city as a whole. Three green dots showed the boy's positions at the Titan's Tower complete with a line that had their labels, two were off at the city mall and depicted Starfire and Raven, and the last one was steadily moving towards a red dot flashing at what seemed to be a large patch of land. The computer generated map zoomed in at his touch to reveal the area was actually a jail.

"Whoever it is, they're at Jump City's maximum security prison. A break out? Not on my watch. Come on, Titans!" Robin rushed out the door to begin his journey with Beast Boy hot on his tail. Naruto only shook his head before chasing after them but his mind was clearly elsewhere.

'_A whole map inside of this thing that shows where everyone is, plus it allows me to…'call' the others and bring up their image to speak face to face? Why the hell couldn't we have this back in Konoha?_' But he pushed such a thought to the side for now. He could always gush over it later when he had some free time. Outside, he was running along the water and then ground with his arms lagging behind him with Beast Boy in the air in the shape of a peregrine falcon. Robin was riding some contraption that moved with only two wheels like a bicycle but he wasn't peddling. Drawing closer to their destination, the girls appeared over the buildings and took up flying next to the shifter followed closely by Cyborg simultaneously arriving at the same time. As they arrived at the scene, Naruto's face split into a happy grin.

There were bad guys to punch.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They didn't know it was coming. They didn't know what was about to happen. How they didn't see the perpetrator stalking towards them from the horizon, no one was willing to explain. But it happened. The large, heavily reinforced doors were ripped apart at the fore of the prison and allowed any and all access to the interior or for the convicts inside to run for their freedom. Sirens were blaring and many of the security guards were already unconscious or unmoving.

They tried to stop the attacker on the one and only bridge leading to and from the jail, but it was a failure. And now, the assailant was about to breach into the inner sanctum. Three guards had looped around the perimeter and through the open walkway, the first pointing towards the unwelcome guest and shouting out orders to his fellows. "Code red at cell block 9! Move out!"

They moved forward in a triangle formation, scanning the courtyard for any other threats. None were visible and they had a bigger problem to deal with at the moment. "Main yard secure!" But he spoke too soon. A large slab of metal hit the ground directly in from of them, crushed and compacted from its violent removal. "There he is! Take down the criminal!" All three moved forward and took aim with their rifles, locking the ports of their armor to help with the kickback. Beams of blue light pulsed from the barrels and shot down the yard towards the intended target.

However, their attacks resulted in failure.

The person was, in fact, not a person at all. It was shaped like a man, yes, but normal people aren't seven to eight feet tall and made entirely out of stone. Glowing red eyes, a blocky, square head, and arms that nearly hung down to the ground finished it off. It was the golem known around the city as Cinderblock and its concrete body merely shrugged the blasts off like they were nothing. With a garbled roar, he stomped the ground and created a fissure that caused the guards to lose their footing and be blocked from view. With no way for them to get through, the monster turned and continued on its path.

Inside it was rather quiet but the golem took no time to think on it. Or maybe it couldn't because its limited mental capabilities only had one drive; to complete its mission. "You know, Cinderblock. Bad guys usually try to break outta jail, not break in!" the snarky voice of Beast Boy yelled out from the shadows, causing said 'person' to stop.

"And I can give you six good reasons why this is a bad idea!" Dropping from the ceiling, Robin landed in Cinderblock's way and glared as hard as he could. There was no time to think on why the living object was doing just that but all that he needed to know was Cinderblock was going down. "One!"

"Two!" Starfire coasted over the ground before landing and standing behind and two the right of Robin.

"Three!" Beast Boy was next, dropping in as a tiger and morphing back while staying in a crouch.

"Four." came the monotonous response of Raven as she rose up from the ground in a black swirl, ready to battle.

"Five!" Cyborg shouted as he locked onto Cinderblock with his robotic eye.

"I guess that makes me six!" Naruto appeared in a plume of smoke, grinning one of his patented squinty-eyed smiles.

"No matter how you do the math, it all adds up to you going down." Robin taunted as the other members fell into formation. But a small, lame looked crossed over the blonde's face as he looked at their leader.

'_Was that seriously the best smack talk he could come up with? That was so lame!_'

"-so are you going to come quietly?"

"Or are we gonna have to make this thing loud?" Cyborg finished. Cinderblock's response was to yell, slam his fists together in a show of power and then rush the group with the intent of inflicting bodily harm. Wrong move.

"Titans! GO!"

The battle began with the two sides meeting halfway and Robin starting things off with a leaping spin kick. Even made of stone, the creature staggered back from the blow with minimal-to-no pain. A continuous energy barrage from Starfire sent it forward right into Cyborg's fist but it was able to counter with a punch of its own. The two forces negated each other and sent them both stumbling away even as BB turned back into a falcon and slashed at it with his claws. While ineffective against a body made of rock, it still provided a distraction for Raven to lift a slab of pavement and force it into Cinderblock's face. This was followed by a wave of clones to wash over it and keep the golem restrained with punches and kicks.

The massive attack caused Cinderblock to grow angry and roar again, spinning its bulky arms like a helicopter and destroying many of the clones in the process. That was, until a large glowing ball of chakra was thrust into its chest and began grinding away like a drill. This time Cinderblock felt the ache as layer upon layer of cement and stone was stripped away and it was sent barreling through the door it had originally been moving towards. Without missing a beat Naruto rushed after into the cloud of debris and dust.

"…Friend Naruto is quite powerful, yes?"

"He could probably take on Cinderblock by himself."

"Whether he can or cannot, he's still a part of a team. Rushing off by himself isn't safe! What if he gets attacked?"

"Yell at him later! Right now we need to go and back him up!" They moved to reengage but a sudden blur of orange and black tumbled out with a sick crack, rolling along the ground as he tried to regain his footing with a series of flips. With the help of the Tamaranean, he was able to halt his movement and shake away the mild dizziness flipping through his senses.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto's jaw cracked in reply as it settled back into place, causing him to nod mutely at the redhead in thanks. "Yeah…bastard pretended to be unconscious and sucker punched me when I got close. Rookie mistake…I thought I was past those…"

Robin could almost see his vision turning red as his prediction came true. Jabbing a twitching finger into his chest, he moved close enough to see every fine feature on Naruto's face without need of squinting. "See! That's why we need to stay together! Why the hell did you run off like that?"

The blonde blinked but his expression turned sheepish as realization dawned. He still had his old shinobi mentality concerning teammates. He'd been with bona-fide ninjas all his life, all with the same sort of training he had been subjected to. These five hadn't but his instincts were telling him that they would back him up just like he was accustomed to. Well, those instincts needed to be rewired. "Sorry…my fault. I was a front line specialist and I'm used to automatically having someone watching my ass when I rush in. We spent so much time getting you all used to fighting as a team, I forgot about integrating myself fully into the mix. I'm a one-man army anyways so there were always clones to pick up my slack."

"…don't do it again. Next time you might not be so lucky." the Boy Wonder finally growled out, in worry of his friend's safety and the fact they had all overlooked such a simple fact. With him as the leader and Naruto helping them all work together, they literally and truly forgot such an important piece of information that had been in front of their noses for weeks now. Just yet another thing to work on…all that time possibly wasted where Naruto could have been slipped in and they wouldn't have been in this situation.

"Rob, relax. He might've been reckless but there's no way Cinderblock hasn't been weakened now." Robin only grunted at Cyborg's sentence and moved to stand next to the robotic teenager. The duo were waiting for any sign of movement but were wary of just rushing in to apprehend their opponent. Naruto had shown them why it was such a bad idea in the first place.

A sharp whir sliced through the air, dissipating the still hovering dust by its buzzing rotation and nearly bisecting Robin at the waist had he not dropped to the floor in time. Cyborg merely had to lean right to avoid the buzz saw and he watched, wide-eyed, as the item in question slammed into the ground and created a deep crater. The weapon was a support beam from the wall, complete with large chunks of still attached concrete at either end. Cinderblock had used it as a distraction and began to run away down the hallway.

"You're not getting away that easily! Cyborg, it's time to put our new combination into effect!" The masked male's hand dropped to his belt and withdrew and indistinct, circular disk that still reflected even in the hazy, low light. The sight of it caused his darker-skinned counterpart to grin and flip the internal switch that allowed his hand to reconfigure itself into his projectile cannon.

"Sounds like a plan! I got the sonic if you got the boom!"

At the unbidden instigation, the two launched themselves down the hall and then kicked off the walls. Both men defied gravity as vertigo was experienced. Their bodies were hanging upside down suspended in the air as Robin and Cyborg passed each other and readied their weapons. But the unthinkable happened at the very last minute. Maybe Robin didn't give himself enough space and wasn't as far ahead as he thought. Maybe Cyborg had taken and extra step or two forward when scaling the wall. In the end, their ankles hooked together and sent the two of them into a vomit-inducing spin because of their momentum.

The brightly dressed boy lost the grip on his concussive light weapon as it skipped over the metal floor and came to a stop near Raven and Naruto's feet. One second passed before the trigger was thrown and it reacted. The two were barely able to throw up their arms before they were engulfed in the overbearing radiance and cried out in pain.

His fellow team member impacted against the vertical surface and lost control over his arm as the primed charge fired off without his consent. The beam lanced out and nearly caused Beast Boy to go prematurely bald as it shot right at him. He dodged, yes, but in the process tumbled into Starfire and the unlikely duo dropped into a heap.

Without missing a beat Cinderblock continued on, not even stopping to pause as the golem crashed through wall after wall like it they were paper. Its actions caused the convicts situated in the now broken rooms to stare in shock before one yelled out in appreciation. It was soon followed by the similar celebrations as those that could run did just that.

Each and every one had sinned in some way; acts so despicable they had to be put under heavy lock and key. Many knew they would never see the light of day again without the involvement of high walls, barbed wire, and disciplinary guards equipped with heavy weaponry. A handful were even sitting on death row. With Cinderblock having literally ripped them an open path to the outside, they were going to take it without question.

It was a short lived hope. The Teen Titans descended upon them even while they recovered from their leader and tech-whiz's blunder, managing to subdue three-fourths in record time. Beast Boy had changed into a tyrannosaurus rex, Raven was shaking a few unlucky ones with nothing more than her will, Starfire popped them on the head with enough restraint to knock them out, Robin was showing of his bojutsu skills, Cyborg would throw out the occasional punch or grapple, and Naruto was trying to get the high amount of dots to clear from his vision.

Heightened senses could sure be a bitch.

Two of the inmates were able to slip past the impromptu battle and rush towards the exterior doorway with visions of freedom dancing through their heads. They were using their fellows as bait, allowing them to sneak past. It would have worked too except they forgot one critical fact; ninjas were stubborn. The two men were in the clear when a weight slammed into the back of their skulls, knocking them out instantly before they could even drop. Twin 'thunks' sounded out as both of their faces slammed into the ground and slid to a halt. Naruto stood crouching with his sandals resting on top of them, still furiously rubbing at his eyes with an angry pout.

"I'm gonna kick his ass when I can see again…stupid blindy disk."

The screech of a bird sounded as a black circle phased into existence in front of the three males, and quickly coalesced into Raven. The girl had noticed Naruto was missing and had teleported towards the front gate in case they had allowed a few to slip past, even ready to bar their escape with pieces of the former doors. She was not expecting to see the blonde already there, kneeling on top of two unconscious men. In fact, she thought he had gone after Cinderblock.

"Are you alright?" she finally asked, noticing the problem he seemed to have with his vision and making him perk up at her presence.

"No. Remind me to stay away when Robin when he pulls out his flashbangs."

"…hold still." She commanded, placing her hands over his eyes after tapping his fingers and making him lower them. Channeling her youki to her hands, she exhaled and allowed it to safely seep into his sclera, rods, and cones. Compared to the potency of her normal range of powers, healing took more control as the energy was to be used for fixing, not destroying or manipulating. As the girl sensed the flow of energy around his optics once again flowing at a normal pace she removed her palms and gave him a small smile while secretly relieved it had worked as she had hoped. "Better?"

Blue eyes blinked open tenderly before widening fully, Raven's slightly grinning face the first thing he focused on. "Yeah. I didn't know you could heal."

"It's not something I use very often."

"It's good to have. I could never use any medical techniques back home. It took too much chakra control…much more than I could ever hope for with my reserves." The blonde reached down and hefted the two prisoners over his shoulders as the two made their way back towards the others. Conversation had grown oddly silent between them and Raven was actually the one wondering if she had done something wrong somehow. Did she bring up an unnecessary memory with her minor ability to cure?

In truth he was deep in thought. Why hadn't the fox fixed him up? The time it took between getting blinded and Raven fixing him up, the Kyuubi should have at least healed most of the damage. Maybe the biju was still recovering from their near merger a few weeks ago. He'd have to check later on. Or maybe the furry prick was still throwing a hissy fit and acting like a douche.

Unbeknownst to even Naruto, the fox knew _full_ _well_ what was going on. The demon mammal was still exceedingly pissed that the Yondaime had interfered with his chance at freedom _and_ devouring the insipid blonde fool. The massive charge of chakra in the shape of a vulpine had been forced to heal Naruto originally at the beginning of entering this new world in order to heal itself and return to full strength but now that they were both whole, it had decided on petty revenge. Eyes injured? Well too fucking bad, they can heal on their own.

Until the newest player reared her pretty little head and gave the Kyuubi new food for thought.

The energy this 'Raven' female was nothing more than youki. Different than its own demonic chakra, but still containing the same overbearing essence. It had piqued his senses the minute she laid hands upon its container's face and the amount of teeth it was currently showing as it grinned was purely terrifying. '_**So a new demon has made itself known…perhaps my escape isn't as farfetched as I thought anymore…**_'

Laughter filled the dreary sewer, sending ripples through the stagnant water as the dark bellowing grew louder and louder. The echoes began to overlap, creating a cacophony of dark laughter that seemed to be coming from more than one source. Both Naruto and Raven felt themselves shiver but attributed it with them walking in on a rather intense verbal bout between Robin and Cyborg.

If only they knew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day had been a partial success. All escapees were accounted for and locked back up inside cells that were still undamaged, and there were no casualties on the side of the prison guards. It was still deemed a failure as their main reason for being called had done what it wanted. Cinderblock had found what it had been looking for and escaped into the sewer, literally punching its way through the floor until it had landed in the dank, nasty smelling tunnels. From there, he had simply ran away while the Titans were preoccupied on the surface.

The golem had traipsed his way directly into the unauthorized section of the prison and found the one prisoner no one ever wanted to mess with. He was a thin man, with hair only a few centimeters long and stubble on his chin. His most distinguishing feature? He was unconscious, floating in a glass case of gelatinous, nutrient-rich gel that hung from the center of the ceiling. Cinderblock had walked up and ripped it from its perch and that was that. But why was a guy sleeping in a bunch of goo so wanted?

It was because of what occurred when he was awake.

Due to a chemical accident nearly ten years ago, an unknown mutagen attached itself to poor Otto Von Furth's DNA to the point that normal, untreated oxygen caused a chemical reaction down at a cellular level. Whenever he was conscious and in contact with normal air, his body would rearrange itself to look like his body's new symbiote and produce a thick, purplish, muddy ooze that would cover his entire form. Like Clayface who was situated in Gotham, the horrendous monster nicknamed Plasmus would grow larger in mass, be able to twist and contort its body for attack and defense, and barely suffer any damage as it could quickly fix itself up due to not having muscles or a skeletal structure. The only difference was that Plasmus had no transformation ability like Clayface's that allowed it to look like anyone and everyone. Also, its base intelligence was quite low.

Now Plasmus was free and in the hands of whoever had recruited Cinderblock in the first place.

Robin was pissed.

And he was taking it out on Cyborg.

The two superheroes continued sniping at each other before turning on their heels and walking away. However, both grumbled under their breath and called each other a name that was somehow still heard by the other. It reopened the argument and the shouting match caused the four other group members to watch in awe and a little bit of fear at how they were ripping into each other. Annoyances and insecurities that had been mounting up over their days together had finally broken free and now they were getting it all out.

"I don't even know why you're on this team!"

"Well guess what? Neither do I!" In the rush of emotion, the half man/half robot yelled out two words that just slipped out of his mouth. He was angry, Robin was making it worse, and they were out of his thoughts before he could stop them. "I QUIT!" He walked away without looking back, leaving the stunned group behind. It hurt to hear that. Though they got on each others nerves, he and Robin had still become fast friends in their time together. And in his stride to show how well he could act in leading a team, he had just broken it up.

Hanging his head in shame, Robin turned and walked the other way without a sound.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There were only two lights in the whole area. Gears of all shapes and sizes hissed and whirred as they continued on with their jobs. One man in a mask looked out into the darkness from his throne, lazily blinking as he rested one hand in his chin. Solid footsteps mixed in with the steam and sound of the cogs forced Slade to sit up straight against the back of his seat. It appeared his flunky had returned…

With a present.

Cinderblock's large and blocky frame stalked into the second spotlight, brightening his already dull features but Slade's lone eye was solely locked on the package. "Cinderblock…I see your mission was a success. Very good." The man made a gesture with his hand before leaning forward and narrowing his grey orb. "Wake him."

The human-like golem grunted and began struggling with the top of the enclosed case. With a hiss of smoke the metal lid turned and allowed for the man's poison to enter his sleeping space. Bleary eyes blinked as Otto was forcibly awoken, thoughts drifting through his mind for the first time in years. Then the weight of his actions sent a lightning bolt of shock through his nerves as limbs began struggling within their confines. Palms pressed fearfully against the inside of the glass as the panic set in.

"I'm awake? No…no! I can't be awake! I want to stay human!" His words were slightly garbled due to the liquid but it made Slade smirk behind his helmet. Human? He had no need for a wimpy looking human being. What other reason would he kidnap and bring him here for? It was almost insulting for him to presume that Slade had no idea what he was doing. He _always_ knew what he was doing.

"Then it's a good thing I don't the assistance of a human then. What I need…is Plasmus."

As if on cue, Otto's skin began to run and lengthen as the coloring slowly bled into a purple shine. Every pore released Plasmus' 'body' as the reinforced chamber couldn't handle the pressure pushing into it from the inside. Glass splintered and cracked before exploding outward in a gooey mess that coalesced back into a rough human shape. Dull green gems stared unblinkingly as it began to screech and grumble, dragging its exceedingly long arms across the floor as the two other occupants watched the show take place.

Slade's smirk grew tighter in response. With a quick dose of electrical-based 'training', his newest recruit would be just another loyal peon for him to use. Just like Cinderblock. Oh, it felt so good when his evil schemes came together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"_This is Cyborg. I'm either working out in the gym, playing Gamestation, or kicking bad guy butt. Leave a message._" _**BEEEEP!**_

"Dammit Cyborg, pick up your phone! It's not like you _can't_ hear it ringing! It's in your arm!" Beast Boy huffed and hit the end button on his transmitter, slamming the round item back into his pouch before whirling around to look around the sitting/kitchen area. He cringed upon noticing Starfire only a few inches away from his face sporting a frown and a spoon full of…some sort of gray matter that smelled suspiciously like petroleum jelly. He gagged and began choking when the disgusting concoction was forced past his lips and into his mouth. Oh god, it was horrible! It felt like it was burning and freezing his taste buds at the same time!

The alien grinned upon seeing his reaction but the frown once again latched onto her pretty face when she remembered the reason for cooking such a mess. "How does it taste?"

"What, what the hell was that? Cream of toenails?" He scraped at his tongue after wiping off the mess, trying to claw the taste out of his mouth.

"Pudding of sadness. It is made and consumed on my planet when bad things happened." She took her own spoonful and forced it down, unable to keep the grunt of distaste from escaping as she finished swallowing. The girl left the shapeshifter to lament the loss of one of his senses as she hovered up alongside her fellow female and tried to get her to eat some of the…food. Raven in turn denied her request and told her there was no point in worrying, It was a part of life to meet and lose friends and acquaintances but even with her stoic front, she couldn't help but lose partial control of her powers upon the mention of Cyborg. The screens she had been standing near instantly broke and splintered as her hair flared up in response.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Starfire squeaked, leaving the darker girl to her thoughts as she crossed the room to stand next to Robin. The poor boy had been staring out the window since their return without saying a word. It tore at the innocent girl's heart to see him acting so crushed. In fact it was the first time she had ever seen him act this way since the six of them met. Putting her arms out, the Tamaranean presented the bowl of pudding towards the Boy Wonder. "Here. You need this most of all since…well…" She couldn't bring herself to finishing the sentence.

"I'm fine." He spoke evenly, not moving his eyes from their spot on the glass. "Maybe we're better off without him." It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Starfire. He turned and walked away, heading off to the training area to work out his frustrations. Koriand'r dropped her arms as she watched him walk away, feeling a sadness at how her new friends were acting towards each other. A soft sigh escaped her lips before she turned to scan the area for her final companion.

No sight of a thatch of blonde hair. However, she did see Katsuya resting on top of the counter near the fridge. "Little fler't friend, do you know where Friend Naruto is?"

"Possibly in his room."

"Thank you!" She shot off at a quickened pace and soon found herself once again standing outside the ninja's room. However, this time it was locked and no amount of knocking brought forth a reaction. Dejected by the outcome she headed back and stood in front of the little slug. "He was…not there."

"Oh. Then he went out to find Cyborg-san." Now that caught the three's attention. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven all gathered around the summoned animal and looked at her expectantly, though Katsuya did not know why. "Yes?"

"He went to look for Cyborg?"

"If Naruto-san is not here then that's the most logical reason I can come up with." She responded with a light huff at having to reiterate such a simple phrase. Did they not hear her the first time?

"But why didn't he rope any of us into helping him? Four is better than one." The green boy mentioned, getting a slug's equivalent of a shrug.

"You are forgetting Naruto-san can easily search the city if he wants, be it with clones or senjutsu. Besides, he has experience with this sort of situation. Long ago he had a similar time going after his…friend who left their village for personal, negative reasons. I believe he sees the squabble between Robin and Cyborg as something of a parallel to his own memories."

"Did he succeed?"

"…no. And that is why I think he did this on his own." Not wishing to give away any more of his past, the gastropod slinked down the cabinet and slowly crawled out of the room to go who knows where. The three heroes shared a glance before shrugging and moving to return to their prior activities as there was nothing else for them to do.

**VREEEET! VREEEET! VREEEET!**

Trouble again so soon? Today just wasn't their day. A squeak of metal revealed Robin as he rushed into the room, crowding close to the others as they had taken up positions near the alert screen. The Boy Wonder was itching for some payback against Cinderblock but today wasn't that day. Plasmus was on the loose.

The four rushed out to the Toxic Chemical Refinement Facility to combat the new threat. Naruto wasn't picking up his communicator and Cyborg was still MIA so they were down to a third of their full strength. As protectors of Jump City they couldn't dismiss the call and would still do their best to stop the criminal activity.

Now alone, Katsuya channeled a thread of healing chakra to wind through her head and help combat the mounting headache aching in her upper region. She was a slug, yes, but obviously not a normal slug. Her brain was larger than normal to make up for her evolution as a summon, even with the body she now inhabited being a separate consciousness and clone from her true form. Perhaps if she was mentally weak like a normal animal it would not be as bad. But being sentient sometimes really was a pain. She was the summon known to be always be polite and respectful, calm and collected in whichever situation she was thrown into. But now…

Maybe she could find a padded covering for her audio canals, because that siren was really starting to annoy the hell out of her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It wasn't too hard to track the elusive champion of justice down. Instead of spamming clones and hoping he got lucky, Naruto merely instead entered his beloved sage mode and felt for the familiar energy source. His was rather unique, one of the oddest he ever felt but he chalked it up to having a bunch of metal attached to his body. Cyborg's chakra was heavily influenced by the lightning affinity.

It was no biggy when his expanded senses found the signature, allowing him to find the teen loitering in something called an arcade. It was a place where people could go to play those video game shenanigans on big boxes, something he had yet to try for himself. Maybe one day but that wasn't his current priority.

The half-machine teen had the look of utmost concentration as he pressed buttons at a frightening pace, wiggling a small knob back and forth so fast Naruto thought the frail plastic would break under his ministrations. Surprisingly it stayed whole, even as Cyborg slapped his palms on the counter heavily and shouted out with joy.

"BOOYAH! Number one, baby! That's what I'm talking…oh. Hey, Naruto. Why're you here? Did _Robin_ send you out to find me so he can be a little bastard some more?" His tone grew gradually spiteful as he noticed the blonde watching him, lowering his arms from their blissful spot and crossed them over his chest.

"Nope. In fact I came of my own free will. So how the hell do these things work?" he asked as he moved forward, poking one of the buttons in the Player 2 spot with a childish regard. Cyborg watched him tinker curiously before sighing at his backwater interest and placed a few quarters in the machine. It instantly lit up and began flashing as he motioned Naruto to stand and grab the controls to which he complied. As the two began their fighting game it wasn't that long before a conversation was struck up to repair the silence that had fallen.

"So what's the point of you looking for me anyways? I'm not a part of the Titans anymore."

"Yeah you are. You and Robin just had a temper tantrum and neither would back down. In the time we've all been a team, you two became best friends and yet you're both alike. It's not like there _wasn't _ever going to be infighting on the team. If we always got along then I would think there's something seriously wrong." That got a snort out of his partner.

"Doesn't matter. I quit. I can't go back anyways. Little punk was getting on my nerves."

"He gets on everyone's nerves. He just wants the Titans to work out. Besides, we're still new and this thing with the rock guy was our first major mission together. My first mission nearly had us getting killed by an assassination specialist when the client lied about the difficulty. Not exactly a C-rank when your up against a guy that can kill you with his eyes closed."

"Fun." he commented dryly when the ninja somehow pulled off a super combo even though he was mashing buttons. In reality he was just copying what the cybernetic male had done prior.

"Yeah, sure." With a flick of his wrist, Cyborg's character lost the last dregs of his health bar and the match was over. Somehow, the blonde had defeated him flawlessly.

"Never played before, my ass…okay. So what's it matter to you that I left? In fact, I was waiting for Robin to bust your balls for rushing in blind against Cinderblock."

"He would have but he was too choked up on you quitting." Naruto sighed lightly and turned, leaning his back and elbows against the machine as he looked around the building. Lots of other people of all ages dancing, playing games, or eating. All were having the time of their lives, unaware of the drama currently taking place only a few feet away. "Look, you want to come back, right?"

"Well…...yeah. But I can't just waltz back in after what happened. It would look like he was right and I was wrong."

'_Stubborn. But then again, that's one of my major traits._' "At least you want to rejoin. Last time I was in a situation like this, it was with my teammate and friend. We got into a big fight after I chased him down and he still got away. Just come back. Everyone misses you and it's not the same without hearing you and Beast Boy yucking it up."

Cyborg looked down at his forearm in thought. "Yeah, BB left me like forty messages." Silence reigned as he continued looking at the white 'T' that served as the screen saver of his communicator limb when he didn't have it take the same tone as the blue of his arm. Honestly, it was making Naruto antsy having to wait so long for an answer.

"…so?"

"I don't know…" Gah! This is why he was a fighter, not an emotional speaker! Maybe he could just knock the big guy out and haul him back? He flexed his hand and considered the option but he noticed Cyborg staring at the open doorway leading back outside. It looked like the guy had seen a ghost or something. It didn't help that both of their alarms went off at the same time, showing that there was a break in at a chemical plant half a mile away.

"Shit. Okay, are you coming or what?"

"No."

"If you help I'm pretty sure Robin won't bitch about it." he added quickly, edging towards the portal.

"I know but I'm pretty sure I just saw Cinderblock rush by."

"…are you serious?" A nod. "Well…the others can handle whatever's going on over there." The two rushed outside to see the stout body of their old foe spin around a corner into a back alley as civilians did their best to get out of his way. It might've been later in the day than usual but for a known villain such as Cinderblock to be moving around like he was, it had to mean that the break-in on their monitors was some sort of distraction.

They were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

The stone creature was just about to punch its way through the dead end located at the other side of the alleyway when a sonic blast collided with its broad back and made it head-butt the wall. Grunting, it actually rubbed at the spot on its face before turning and seeing the two protagonists. Cinderblock roared a battle cry before grabbing a nearby pipe running along the building's side and ripping it free. Now armed with a large metal club, the golem wasted no time in swinging it with the intent to behead the two of them.

Cyborg was launched into the air by a pair of Narutos, said blondes ducking under the attack as the edge impacted against brick and mortar. One of the shinobi moved into a handstand and kicked upwards, knocking the pipe just loose enough for the other copy to sock it right in its square jaw. With its face now pointed upwards, Cinderblock had a clear view of Cyborg dropping with the aid of gravity with his fist cocked back. Metal fingers met rocky chin on the receiving end and it nearly spun Cinderblock around on the spot.

Seeing an opening, the robotic superhero pulled the makeshift club out of his enemy's hands and proceeded to slam it over the already stunned golem's cranium which heavily dented the iron. Cinderblock teetered slightly as even its tiny brain was rattled by the speedy beat down until once again the pipe connected with its face. It groaned in pain before suddenly finding itself motionless and attached to the wall. A large, animalistic-looking head had engulfed the front of the golem's chest and pelvis and glued itself to the wall by way of the large teeth sticking out of its 'mouth.'

"Well…alright. Why wasn't it this easy the first time? I was expecting for it to go at least another ten minutes."

"Wellllllllllllllll…it's thanks to my seal." As one of the Naruto's poofed away, the other moved over to the fake creation and tilted its face so it angled towards Cyborg. Cinderblock's eyes were glazed over (for a living block of earth) as an occasional moan escaped from its mouth.

"Okay…it's one of your fancy doohickeys. Elaboration would be nice."

"I'm sorta proud of this one. Long story short, an enemy was defeated because of this on a mission to recover the leader of one of our allied villages. It's called Fūinjutsu: Shishi Heikō, or Sealing Technique: Lion Closing Roar. Anyone caught inside gets their chakra completely sealed off and makes them unable to move. I'm actually surprised it worked since I wasn't exactly sure how this thing was created. But it seems chakra is chakra, no matter where I go. If it failed, Blockhead here would've just stayed immobilized. I grabbed it before leaving the Tower."

"So you stopped its…chakra or whatever, and the lack of the flow of energy made Cinderblock weak?"

"Yup. It's the only one I had. After the mission was a success it took a few days before we returned home. Good ol' Gaara allowed me to see how the technique worked as way of thanks and I was able to make my own. I only created one though…it's a bitch to fold up."

"What happens if we remove the seal or take the whole thing off the wall?"

"Cinderblock'll stay weak but its energy will begin to return and it'll escape unless we pin it again." Cyborg hummed and glanced down at the near useless hunk of metal still in his hands and grinned. Oh, he had another way to trap him all right…

With the seal removed, Cinderblock found itself wrapped in large pipes and broken streetlights taken from the nearby surroundings. It just gave the city incentive to finally replace these older pieces of technology after all. With the current threat taken care of Cyborg increased the power in his limbs and lifted the criminal onto his shoulders. "I'll take this guy to jail. You go and help the others." Naruto just stared at him with an incredulous look. "What?" The stare turned into a pointed glare, making the boy grunt and shake his fist. "FINE! I'll go too, you stupid blonde ninja!"

"That's the spirit! Come on before they get all the fun!" Now _that_ was an eye-roller. Nevertheless Cyborg began to chase after the orange-clad male, occasionally jostling his package with unnecessary glee. That's what the criminal got for putting him through so much trouble today.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So this was it. Robin was dangling over a vat of lethal sludge with Plasmus hanging from his foot. Actually, it was a fifth of Plasmus shaped like a pincer with legs. The creature had put up a great fight against the four Titans but was eventually captured by curved steel beams Starfire had molded using the heat of her star bolts. It had split into the five different entities and renewed its attack against them. The princess was chased by one in the form of a snake, Beast Boy was hounded by a salamander-styled creature with stubby legs, Raven was pitted against the octopus, and Robin was trailed by the claw-faced muck monster. The first three were captured against their will by their opponents and the final component of the symbiote while their leader was forced onto a conveyor belt.

They fought naturally and Robin was pinned under his foe. Reaching the end of the line, the masked teen was able to throw out an arm and grab the edge that remained still but ended up with unwanted cargo. His grip was fading fast and he was unable to swing enough to use his other hand. He couldn't kick off the extra weight either and the male was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat when the machinery he was holding onto bent and finally tore from its spot. Plasmus-Claw went quite easily, dispersing into the chemicals as it literally melted away. A scream tore its way from Robin's diaphragm as he dropped like a stone-

-until a familiar blue and grey hand reached out and grabbed him around his gloved wrist. "Cyborg?" Robin couldn't help it. Upon reaching solid ground he bent over and breathed shakily at the fact he had nearly lost his life. Alas, such was the life of a hero. His companion stood there silently until he held up a hand with a smirk.

"So…I still got the sonic if you still got the boom." Grins were matched as the two moved back towards the main room where only the four remaining Plasmus clones stood. Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Naruto were nowhere to be seen. The beasts screeched at the sight of the new arrivals but Robin and Cyborg were undeterred at their advance. Mimicking the attack that first caused their rift to form the two friends pushed up the wall and deployed their respective attacks without fail. The concussive grenade's speed was increased by the force of the blast and hit the muddy doppelgangers like a speeding train. Their cries of pain were stripped away like their bodies, leaving behind a large mess of purplish ooze that littered the entirety of the area.

The dust lifted to reveal Otto Von Furth snoring away like a baby, covered in the remains of his monster form. Not only that but so was their three missing teammates, all looking unhappy at being doused in the equivalent of a garbage dump. With the problem finally fixed Robin called up the police and requested a transport for their new prisoner.

Ten minutes later Otto was once again hidden inside a custom restraining unit for a person with special problems such as himself. It was good to have the problem fixed and gave them all a bit of joy to know things had turned out fine. The two feuding members even made up and Cyborg was once again brought back into the ranks of the Teen Titans. All was well. That was, until Starfire broke the mood by looking around in worry.

"Where is Naruto?" she asked, hands clasped in front of her chest. It was the first time she hadn't placed the word 'friend' in front of someone's name and she received a few inquisitive looks. Cyborg only laughed and gestured towards the nearby cherry picker parked next to the warehouse as a package was dropped in by a steel cable. It was Cinderblock tied up with multiple pieces of metal and hanging by the hook at the end. Naruto was hanging off the wire with one foot resting on the prisoner's shoulder while the other was constantly pushing against the struggling captive's face.

"Stop wiggling you bastard…you ain't getting free!" he groused with a growl, eliciting a few rounds of laughter from his friends.

"He found me at the arcade, we talked a bit, and then we beat the mud out of Cinderblock. I thought I'd bring a present in case you were still mad."

"Thanks. But there's still something that's bothering me." Robin's smile instantly morphed into a frown as the two girls and the green teen tensed. Was he still going to go after Cyborg, especially when they were friends again? Good lord. "Breaking into jail and using Plasmus as bait? It's too smart for someone like Cinderblock." Oh. He was worried over the break-in. That was a relief.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Maybe it's the same guy who sent those robot things after us that day it was raining?" Naruto quipped, walking down the side of the villain and hanging upside down from the soles of said villain's feet using chakra. "Just a guess." he added before flipping and dropping to the ground in a crouch. Robin nodded slowly and rubbed his hand with his chin.

"It's possible. Someone's pulling the strings."

"Whoever they are, they're no match for the Teen Titans!" The two friends high-fived and began their trip back to the Tower, followed by the other four as they began to converse happily. They were grateful the blonde had found their missing member and each person was showing it in their own way. Beast Boy had clapped him on the back, Raven had given him a smile from underneath her hood, and once again he found himself crushed against Starfire as she gave him a hug. Jiraiya would have been proud of him being smashed against a girl's chest so periodically. They were big, probably B's to C's. He could easily imagine the pervert off in the corner writing away in his ever present notebook.

"Whoa there, Kori-chan. I like having unbroken ribs after a hug." She giggled and loosened her grip just enough so bones were not creaking from her strength. Grunting a thank you, she released him and allowed him to walk under his own power.

"So will you ever tell us about the time you went after your friend? Katsuya mentioned you going through a similar problem in your village. I'm also curious as to where a village that trains people to become ninjas would be located."

"Oh she did, did she? Well…maybe one day." He was smiling but on the inside he was fuming. Damn summon. It wasn't something he liked to think about especially now that he was in another dimension and couldn't fulfill the promise. "As for my village, it's really far away."

"How far? Like Japan?"

"…how about another world?"

"You too are an extraterrestrial?" Starfire asked, slightly in awe. No wonder he was just like her in certain aspects!

"No…uh, another world as in a different dimension or something? I guess that's what happened. I just won a fight to protect my village and my body was breaking down from the byproduct of me using too much energy (though he didn't say what kind)…so I was literally warped away to free my network of the chakra that was killing me and I randomly wound up here. No idea how to get back. But I don't mind, I like it here. I wouldn't have met you guys, right?"

Wow…so Naruto was actually from a parallel Earth. That actually explained some things and yet brought up more questions. What happened that caused him to start dying and what move had he used that did the deed? It just made them ponder more on just who he was. Raven's thoughts were more on the other similarity that she could now see between the two; both were from other dimensions and housed a dark energy inside of them, although she still was unsure what exactly he held.

Naruto just laughed when they agreed with him. Yes he missed his old life and maybe one day he could figure out how to get back. But this one was nice too.

Meanwhile in an undisclosed underground base, a cup of perfectly prepared tea was crushed underneath a gloved fist in contempt. No sooner did the hand lift and shake off the fluid did another pair of hands sweep off the destroyed porcelain and replace it with an exact replica of the drink. Slade was not happy at the moment, even with the slight amusement he felt at seeing his butler being so painstakingly prepared for his outburst.

"Next time my plans will reach completion. The next time…the Titans will pay." he spat out to no one in particular. Both Cinderblock, _that unintelligent peon_, and Plasmus, _his trump card_, had been defeated and his plans foiled. The Titans were supposed to fall. His underlings were to thin their ranks by splitting them up and taking them out when their numbers were weakened. But once again…it had failed. Did that mean it was his fault? He was the one to instigate this job, spending the money and resources to set everything up perfectly.

No…

He knew the problem. It was Naruto. While Slade had not originally accounted for Cyborg to split from the Titans, it had made everything easier in the long run.

Until Naruto went and brought him back.

The boy was slowly amounting to a thorn in the super villain's side. Oddly enough, that still made him all the more desirable for apprenticeship in the future. He was the one Slade had bet on surviving this battle alone. He also seemed to have a way with words or perhaps it was his friendly and caring nature. Those two descriptive words seemed blatantly weird being involved or even thought about by a man trying to take over Jump City but that's where his ideas came to fruition. Allies gathered under a banner of camaraderie and the same goals proceeded much more smoothly that one based upon fear.

You catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar, as they say.

Plus he was able to catch a significant bit of new intelligence involving the mysterious blonde. Slade had been unable to find even one shred of evidence that amounted to the existence of a 'Naruto Uzumaki' and now he knew why. The boy was from another world. Forced through a tear in the lining of time and space. Simply marvelous.

As things were working out now, the shinobi was leading the polls to be the masked man's newest apprentice. Robin was not showing as much promise as the blonde but then again…it would be so much more entertaining to break Batman's former sidekick and introduce him to the opposite end of the world of crime. Decisions, decisions…

Snapping his fingers, the butler took that as his cue to leave his master to his thoughts. He was paid to serve, not to plot and scheme. Oh no, that was his employer's department. He just made the tea.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_A/N: Woo, it's done finally. I've been nitpicking at it and finally! Finished! Sigh…so yeah, new developments. The girls learn about Naruto. They learn more at the end. Slade's a meanie. Robin and Cyborg are bros once again. Hallelujah._

_It would've been published sooner but something's been up with FF the last two days. You can't alert stories or anything else like that. The same goes for trying to sign in. I don't get any emails either telling me there are new chapters up or I got alerts. I guess the site is doing maintenance or something. At least that's what I hope it is and not just mine.  
_

_Starfire's starting her crush on Naruto although it's very basic at this point. I suppose Raven is as well but it's more of curiosity at the time. Now if you'll excuse me…I have homework to do. Yay. Not._

_Later._


End file.
